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SGEUR EUGENIE 



THE LIFE AND LETTERS 



OF 



A SISTER OF CHARITY. 



BY THE AUTHOR OF " A^gKEXCH ©KiTJtlEJLIFE OF 


S. PAULA.' 


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1 


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BALTIMORE: 




Published by John Murphy 


& Co. 


182 Baltimore 


Street, 




1373. 






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" The measure of our love of God is to love Him 
without measure." — S. Bernard. 





In Memory 

Of Their Beloved Child, 

This Little Book 

Is Affectionately Dedicated to 

THE Parents of 

SGEUR EUGENIE. 




1 




INTRODUCTION 
TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 

THE profound respect, we might almost say, 
the religious veneration, with which per- 
sons of every creed, in all the stations of life, 
have learned to regard *^The Sisters of Charity, '* 
and the interest which attaches to everything 
that tends to make known their labors of love, 
are more than sufficient motives of encourage- 
ment to us in submitting this little volume to 
the American public. 

The reader will find here, in artless style, in 
unaffected simplicity of manner, but full of 
unction and of deep interest, the story of one 
of those sublime lives which angels might 
envy and men adore — a life at once deeply 
hidden in God and zealously active for the 
good of souls — a life which seems to come re- 
luctantly to the gaze of the public, but which 
is rendered all the more attractive and edifying 
for its modesty and humility. 




npHIS short Memoir is compiled from the letters 
and personal recollections of the relatives 
and friends of Soeur Eugenie, as well as from notes 
and information furnished by the Superiors and 
Sisters of those Communities where she lived ; and 
the Author takes this opportunity of very gratefully 
acknowledging the great kindness of all those 
friends and members of her family who have so 
willingly and readily supplied the materials for this 
little work. With the exception of those letters 
marked as "written in English," all other letters 
and extracts are translated from the French, so that, 
unfortunately, they lose much of the freshness and 
simple beauty of the original. The account of her 
last days, funeral, &c., is drawn entirely from the 
letters of her eldest sister, and notes supplied by 
the Community at C . 



Vlll PREFACE. 

The spiritual and hidden Hfe of a Rehgious is a 
subject which requires dehcate handhng, and a 
secular pen can but imperfectly portray that super- 
natural life of mortified affections, of annihilation 
of self, and ready, unquestioning obedience, which 
worldlings can never understand. Some readers 
may think that the narrative brings out in greatest 
prominence those features in the character of Soeur 
Eugenie which are most deeply imprinted on the 
hearts of her relatives ; therefore, in addition to her 
letters, a few of her own thoughts and meditations, 
which have been preserved, in which her interior 
spirit is faithfully reflected, form an Appendix to 
this Memoir. 

A few words of explanation may also be necessary 
for those readers who are not well acquainted with 
the differences in detail which exist between the 
various Religious Orders. It is, of course, an ex- 
ceptional case that the family should be assembled 
round the death-bed of a Sister of Charity. It is a 
favor for which permission has to be given ; but 
there is nothing in the rules of the Order to forbid 
this consolation to the near relatives of a dying 
Sister. In this, as well as in some other particulars, 



PREFACE, IX 

it must be borne in mind that the spirit of S. Vmcent 
is not at all the same as the spirit of the Cloister. 
The triumph of grace over nature is most forcibly- 
shown in that death-bed scene. So complete was 
the detachment of this saintly Sister — who had 
such strong natural affection, and so unusually 
ardent a disposition — that the calm serenity of her 
soul was never disturbed by the unexpected pres- 
ence of those she loved so deeply. And during her 
last hours, when she was alone with her Confessor 
and the Sisters, no remembrance of those earthly 
ties, which she had sacrificed for the service of God, 
seems for a moment to have distracted her thoughts 
from the Divine Master to whom she was so closely 
united — the Beloved Saviour to whom she had so 

unreservedly given her heart. 

A. M. D. 
Feast of the Epiphany, 1872. 

The Frontispiece, which represents Soeur Eugenie teaching the 
orphans to pray, is engraved from an original drawing by her uncle. 








¥' 



PART I. 

Chapter I. 

PAGE 

Childhood. — Conversion . . . . 13 

Chapter II. 
Home-Life, 48 

Chapter III. 
Religious Vocation . . . . . 80 

PART II. 

Chapter I. 
The Postulant. — The Sister of the Seminary 133 

Chapter II. 
The Sister of Charity . . . . .155 

Chapter III. 
Her Work ended 220 



Selections from Original MSS., etc. . 255 

xi 




SGEUR EUGENIE. 



CHAPTER I. 

CHILDHOOD. CONVERSION. 




FIAT VOLUNTAS TUA ! 
DEO GRATIAS ! 
MISERERE MEI ! 

T was a longing desire often 
expressed by Soeur Eugenie, 
that these devout aspirations might 
rise from her heart with every breath 
she drew ; and these same three short 
sentences may be said to form a sum- 
mary of her whole life. A child-like 



14 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

abandonment of herself to God, with 
entire conformity to His Divine Will; 
a heart full of gratitude and love to 
God, which overflowed in boundless 
charity to man ; a spirit of interior 
mortification and deep humility, which 
led her often to cry, '' Have mercy on 
me, O God ! have mercy ! '' — Such 
were the characteristics of this child 
of God, this sweet Sister of Charity 
and Servant of the Poor. 

The story of her life is a very simple 
one : it tells of no remarkable events, 
of no startling incidents ; it is the 
record of a young life dedicated to 
God — a life of prayer, of sacrifice, 
and of charity. Those who knew and 
loved the subject of this brief memoir — 
who were acquainted with her angel- 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 1 5 

like countenance, and had come under 
the influence of that nameless charm 
which made her so dear to those 
among whom she dwelt — will miss 
the rich color and delicate touches of 
a finished portrait ; yet even this im- 
perfectly drawn sketch may recall her 
in some degree to their hearts, whilst 
it may at the same time afford interest 
and be a source of edification to those 
who knew her not. 

And here it may not be out of place 
to say a few words about the Congre- 
gation of the Sisters of Charity, of 
which Soeur Eugenie was such a zeal- 
ous and loving member. Of all Re- 
ligious Orders, that of St. Vincent de 
Paul may be said to be the most 
popular. The world can admire its 



1 6 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

exterior work, though it utterly ignores 
its interior spirit; and perhaps for 
this reason, no Community so widely 
known is less understood, particularly 
by those who are outside the Church. 
All countries and all creeds are will- 
ing to pay their tribute of praise and 
admiration to the services of these 
devoted Filles de la Charite ; all are 
struck by the success of their numer- 
ous and varied works, and cannot but 
admit their superiority over paid and 
secular nurses. They are universally 
acknowledged to be efficient and skil- 
ful attendants on the sick in hospitals 
and asylums, patient and unwearied 
teachers in schools, reformatories, and 
orphanages, active visitors in the 
houses of the sick poor, and tender 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 1/ 

guardians of infants in the lately estab- 
lished Creches. In France, during the 
late fearful war, the Sisters of Charity 
were ever foremost in following the 
footsteps of the Army ; and, heedless 
of shot and -shell, bravely carried on 
their mission of succoring and heal- 
ing the wounded, consoling the dying, 
and procuring for them priestly aid in 
their last moments. The white cornette 
and gray dress of the Daughters of 
St. Vincent de Paul are now becom- 
ing familiar objects in England, where 
there is a growing appreciation of 
religious associations for the purposes 
of active charity, as is manifested by 
the increasing development of An- 
glican Sisterhoods. But the true prin- 
ciple of action in Religious Orders is 



I 



1 8 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

not fully or generally understood, even 
by pious Protestants. Too often these 
Sisters are looked upon as only be- 
longing to a well organized body, 
whose members, well trained and well 
disciplined, work as by machinery in a 
monotonous lifeless routine. The real 
Spirit of the Order — the main-spring 
which gives life to the whole, that 
Christian Charity which sees our dear 
Lord Himself in each of His suffering 
members — is well-nigh lost sight of, 
and indeed is in a great measure un- 
known. 

" It is not the Religious Order that 
makes a Saint, but the care the per- 
sons called to it take to perfect them- 
selves/' So writes St. Vincent de Paul. 
There are imperfect members in all 



•I 



SCEUR EUGENIE, Ip 

communities, there are mistaken voca- 
^tions and many cases of failure, but 
the true Sister of Charity seeks to 
walk in the footsteps of our Divine 
Saviour, to practise the virtues which 
He practised, to work in His strength, 
to " give herself entirely to Him with 
all the affection of her heart, and all 
the strength of her soul, and to live 
and die in obedience as He did." ^ 

Sceur Eugenie, as she was called in 
Religion, was born at Paris on the 26th 
of April, 1836. She was the third 
daughter of the Comte and Comtesse 

de , and was one of a family 

of eight children, three sons and 
five daughters, two of whom died 

■^ St. Vincent de Paul. 



20 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

in their infancy. She received the 
name of EveHne at her Baptism, and* 
was brought up in the Protestant re- 
ligion, which was that of her mother. 
Her father's eldest brother, the Due 
de , and his wife, were her god- 
father and godmother, her aunt being 
also a Protestant at that time, though 
later she, too, was converted to the 
Catholic faith. Eveline was a child 
of great beauty and promise, and from 
her earliest infancy there was some- 
thing so dignified in her bearing, and 
at the same time so graceful in her 
movements, that in her family she went 
by the name of the " little Duchess'* — 
she who was destined one day to be- 
come the humble servant of the poor! 
When she was about four years old, 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 21 

her parents left Paris and settled with 
their family entirely in the country. 
Their new home was beautifully sit- 
uated in the midst of lovely scenery ; 
the house, nestled among oak-trees 
and beeches, lay on the slope of one 
of a low range of undulating hills, 
richly wooded and vine-clad ; it over- 
looked a wide and fertile plain, stretch- 
ing out to the horizon in lines of corn 
and golden maize, interspersed with 
orchards and gardens. The monotony 
of the scene was broken by the castle 
tower, sun-lit church-spires, and gray- 
roofed houses of the neighboring town 
of X , and by a winding and im- 
petuous river, whose waters, though 
fast settling into a placid stream, yet 
ever and anon went joyously leaping 



22 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

and tossing over rock and stone, as if 
unable to throw off the wild nature they 
had brought down from the mountains 
they had so lately left. On the other 
side of the house, the view was bound- 
ed by a glorious chain of those same 
mountains, which, in sunshine as in 
storm, were always unchanging in their 
beauty of outline and perfectness of 
form, but ever varying in color and 
effect, now lifting their heads out of a 
drapery of steamy mist, like tall phan- 
toms reaching up into the unseen 
world, now raising their snowy peaks 
in clear relief against the dark storm- 
cloud ; sometimes gorgeously lit up 
in the gold and purple and crimson of 
a southern sunset, at other times 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 23 

solemn and mournful in their robes 
of gray and neutral tint. 

We know how the early surround- 
ings of a child leave a lasting impress 
on its mind, and often give a coloring 
to the whole life ; and doubtless it was 
the contemplation in childhood of all 
these beauties of nature, that implanted 
in the mind of Eveline that love of 
the ideal and the beautiful which she 
afterwards possessed in no ordinary 
degree, and which taught her early 
to acquire the habit of referring all 
things to God as the highest source 
of beauty. The pure atmosphere of 
love and tenderness which surrounded 
this sweet child from her birth, was 
also well fitted to develop her affec- 
tionate and ardent disposition, and the 



24 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

Other rich gifts with which she was 
endowed by nature, to which those of 
grace were afterwards to be added so 
abundantly. Her winning and attrac- 
tive ways won all hearts at first sight, 
and her sweet temper and extreme 
liveliness endeared her to all who 
knew her. On one occasion, a lady, 
who had taken a great fancy to the 
little girl, asked her mother how she 
could help spoiling such a fascinating 
child ; her mother had but one answer 
to give, ''Je taime;'' and it was, in fact, 
owing to her deep maternal affection 
that this wise parent did not spoil her ' 
children by that weak over-indulgence 
which so often leaves its baneful influ- 
ence on the character, and stores up 
misery both for parents and children. 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 2$ 

As soon as Eveline and her sisters 
were old enough to leave the nur- 
sery, they were confided to the care of 
an English governess, who was well 
adapted to give them a solid education, 
and sound moral training, to cultivate 
their intellects, and develop their tal- 
ents. Neither did she neglect their 
religious instruction. Though herself 
a Calvinist, she taught the children the 
Creeds and Catechism of the Church 
of England; she required them to 
commit to memory large portions of 
Holy Scripture, so that they soon knew 
whole books of the Bible by heart ; 
and, as reward tickets, she gave them 
cards with Scripture texts, which they 
were in the habit of repeating before 
going to bed. Her religious teaching 



26 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

was certainly of a meagre and con- 
tracted nature: but how can it be 
otherwise, when revealed truth is only 
partially accepted, and the certitude of 
faith is exchanged for the instability 
of private opinion ? 

The governess was a very rigid 
Protestant. She looked upon Cathol- 
icism as a sort of idolatry, and took 
every means in her power to protect 
her pupils from what she considered 
its dangerous influence. So far did 
she carry her prejudice, that if they 
met a Priest when out walking, she 
bade the children turn away their 
heads, as from some unworthy object, 
and she invariably reproved them, 
whenever she saw them looking at a 
Catholic book. Thus they grew up 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 2/ 

in complete ignorance of the most 
elementary principles of Catholic doc- 
trine. In all this, the intentions of this 
lady were doubtless good and honest, 
and she was only conscientiously ful- 
filling what she considered an impe- 
rious duty. But she was really op- 
posing, although she knew it not, the 
designs of Almighty God ; and in His 
own good time. His Grace was to gain 
the victory; and the religion which 
the children were now led to regard 
with aversion, was to become their 
greatest consolation and joy. 

At an early age Eveline showed 
signs of precocious piety and a very 
decided taste for prayer. When she 
was only eleven years old, her thoughts 
seemed to turn to Divine things. She 



28 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

already wished to consecrate herself 
to God, and declared her decided in- 
tention not to marry. Her mother 
laughed at this resolution, and begged 
her not to speak of it, as she would 
probably change her mind later. She 
also began at that time to make in- 
quiries about Protestant Sisters of 
Charity, with some vague sort of feel- 
ing that she would like to become one 
when she were older. And yet she 
was a gay and gladsome child, full of 
poetry, with a vivid imagination and 
great refinement of mind ; preferring 
active employment to sedentary work^ 
but at the same time gifted with so 
quick and penetrating an intelligence 
that she learnt with facility, and was 
an apt and ready scholar. Her purity 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 2g 

of conscience was so great that she 
had an innate horror of all evil ; there 
was a total absence of self-conscious- 
ness about her which added to her 
charms, and already there appeared 
latent symptoms of that depth and 
strength which became such promi- 
nent features in her character, and 
were the more remarkable in a na- 
ture so sensitive that a harsh word 
or even a cold look would deeply 
affect her. 

Such was Eveline at the age of fif- 
teen, at which time her eldest brother, 
who was eleven years old, was pre- 
paring for his First Communion. This 
was a period fraught with important 
results to all the family, and will best 
be described by the following extract 



30 SCEUR eugAnie. 

from some notes written by Eveline's 
eldest sisten 

"Our governess had left us some 
months before : we had now more 
liberty, and could sometimes look at 
Catholic books, and even talk of that 
religion which had hitherto been a 
forbidden subject. 

'' Our maids were in the habit of 
arranging a little altar in the laundry 
for the Month of Mary. Already, on 
the preceding year, it was Eveline 
who undertook to adorn it with flow- 
ers ; and I see her now, coming in 
from the garden, radiant with youth 
and beauty, and laden with branches 
of lilac and other lovely spring flow- 
ers, with which she was going to deck 
the temporary little altar. Whenever 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 3 1 

she could get my mother's permission, 
her great dehght was to assist at the 
evening exercises, and the servants 
used to say to each other, ' You v\^ill 
see, — that dear young lady will one 
day be a Catholic/ That day was not 
far off. The same year I had made 
my first Protestant communion, after 
being instructed by the English chap- 
lain, who did duty at the ' Temple ' at 

X , where we went on Sundays. 

My mother took me to his house three 
times a week. After a little conversa- 
tion with his wife, we went into his 
study, where I repeated to him the 
Catechism of the Church of England. 
He asked me a few questions, listened 
with cold indifference to my answers, 
and added a few sententious observa- 



32 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

tions in the driest manner. I do not 
remember that he ever said one word 
which went to my heart. At that age, 
when we long to confide our reHgious 
thoughts and feeUngs to some one on 
whom we can rely, it is chilling to 
meet with no response ; and, as I felt 
all my impulses and emotions checked, 
a painful reserve and a blank feeling 
of disappointment took possession of 
my whole being, in the presence of 
one who inspired me with no sym- 
pathy and who repelled all my confi- 
dence. When I went home from my 
catechism lessons, I related all to my 
dear Eveline — my troubles, my dis- 
pelled illusions, and the distaste which 
I felt for my religious instruction. She 
consoled me with her usual tenderness, 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 33 

and said, * Do you know, dear Marie, 
I am sure something good will come 
out of this; one thing is certain, I shall 
never have courage to go through all 
that you are now suffering/ 

"In the Spring of 1851 my brother 

G was prepared for his First 

Communion. And here I must say a 
few words about that dear brother 
who was the instrument chosen by 
God to bring us all into the true Faith. 
I say all, for my dear father, though 
preserving a great respect for his reli- 
gion, had unfortunately given up its 
practice. He honorably and gener- 
ously fulfilled his duty, but he was only 
in part a child of the Church, and was 
as yet unacquainted with all her beau- 
ties and joys. He saw the watchful 



34 S(EUR EUGENIE. 

and pious care with which my mother 
brought us up ; and, forgetting or 
neglecting the clause in the marriage 
contract in which it was stipulated 
that his sons should be Catholics, he 
left them entirely to my mother's 
direction. My three brothers were 
therefore baptized and brought up in 

the Protestant religion. G was 

hardly nine years old when spontane- 
ously, of his own accord, he declared 
that he would go to Mass, and be a 
Catholic, as he had the right to be. 
He was so earnest and persevering in 
his desire, that my father could not 

withhold his consent, and to G *s 

great satisfaction, he and his two 
younger brothers were conditionally 
baptized into the Catholic Church. 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 35 

Touched by such great faith in so 
young a child, my father resolved to 
accompany him to Mass. This was 
the first step on that way on which he 
henceforth so steadily advanced. 

" To return to the year of G 's 

First Communion. He went twice a 
day to the Cure of the village, and he 
learned and studied the Catechism at 
home with great assiduity. My sisters 
and I used to watch for his return 
from the village, and often we went 
half-way to meet him ; then we all four 
assembled in a room where we were 
sure not to be interrupted, and we 
made him repeat every word he had 
heard from the Cure. This child of 
eleven became teacher in his turn, and 
explained the whole Catechism to us. 



36 S^i:UR EUGENIE. 

I remember well with what eager at- 
tention Eveline listened to his instruc- 
tions, and how she tried thoroughly to 
comprehend all that he taught us. 
Ignorant till now of a religion she had 
been taught to despise and to hate, she 
yet instinctively felt it was the only 
true religion ; it seemed as if her mind 
was illuminated by a Divine light, and 
as if an inward impulse irresistibly 
constrained her to cry out — Dieu le 
veut! Dieic le vent ! '' 

Truly, " O Lord of heaven and earth, 
Thou hast hidden these things from 
the wise and prudent, and hast re- 
vealed them to little ones/' ^ Here 
were no learned theological discus- 
sions, no dry controversial arguments, 

* S. Luke X. 21. 



SCEUR EUGENIE, yj 

no nice definitions of dogma ; — it was 
the grace of God speaking by the Hps 
of a child, and thus the simple words 
of the boy-teacher carried conviction 
home to the hearts of his young sisters 
more readily than would have done 
the clearest instructions of the most 
experienced professor. 

One thing, which made a deep im- 
pression on these young girls at this 
time, was the marked difference which 
they noticed in their brother s conduct 
since he had been preparing for his 
Communion. He was naturally a pas- 
sionate child, and was at times very 
wilful and unmanageable, but he had 
become so much more obedient to his 
parents, so much more docile and 
gentle with his brothers and sisters, 



38 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

that they were astonished, and said to 
each other, "Surely, we must have 
been deceived ; there must be some- 
thing very good in a religion which 
has so much influence on the char- 
acter/' One day they found the child 
in tears, because he had had distrac- 
tions while saying his rosary, and 
before the day of Communion he came 
to each of his sisters, and on his knees 
humbly begged them to forgive him 
for all he had ever done to displease 
them. 

The Cure was so much struck by 
the boy's piety and intelligence that 
he begged his father to be present at 
one of his last instructions, that he 
might judge of the progress his son 
had made. The Count invited him to 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 39 

come up on the following evening and 
give his Catechism lesson at their 
house. It was a lovely spring evening, 
and the family was assembled on the 
terrace when the Cure joined them. 
As the lesson went on, the sisters 
listened with the deepest interest and 
attention. The eldest, a thoughtful 
and remarkably intelligent girl, could 
not help contrasting the earnest man- 
ner, the paternal tenderness, and the 
lucid and logical teaching of the Priest 
with her own experiences of a religious 
instructor, while Eveline stored up 
each word in her heart, and it seemed 
to her as if a voice from Heaven 
were speaking to her inmost soul. 

The Abbe M was one of those 

holy, zealous, and hard-working Priests 



40 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

of whom there are so many among the 
French clergy,"^ with a refinement and 
dignity of manner not always to be 
met with among village Cures. His 
countenance beamed with an expres- 
sion of purity and serenity which be- 
tokened a soul in constant converse 
with God, and his whole bearing com- 
manded respect and attracted confi- 
dence and affection. Doubtless, when 
he saw the eager attention of his 
young hearers, many a fervent prayer 

■^ It was remarkable, during the late cruel per- 
secution of the clergy by the Commune of Paris, 
that no accusation could be brought against them, 
but that of being Priests. It is related of one under 
arrest who had given satisfactory replies to his in- 
terrogators, that when, examined as to his profes- 
sion, he answered that he was a Priest, Vicaire of 
one of the churches of Paris, they exclaimed, 
*'Cest le ddit I '' and immediately marched him 
off to prison and to death. 



S(EUR EUGENIE, 4I 

rose from the heart of that earnest 
Servant of God, that those bright 
flowers just opening into blossom 
might soon be planted in the Garden 
of Christ, which is watered with the 
stream of the Sacraments ! 

It was on the Feast of Corpus 

Christi that G was for the first 

time to receive the Bread of Life. 
On the eve of that great day, an ^ un- 
accountable sadness seemed to come 
over the boy who had prepared so 
carefully and with such ardent devo- 
tion for this most important act of 
life ; his eyes were filled with tears, 
and it w^as distressing to see his de- 
pression. When questioned as to the 
cause of his grief, he answered in 
these touching words : " Oh ! what 



42 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

makes me so unhappy is the thought 
that to-morrow I shall be the only 
child who will approach the Holy 
Table without being accompanied by 
a single member of his family ! '' His 
sisters advised him to go at once to 
his father and frankly to tell him of this 
great trouble. He did so, and, deeply 
moved at his child's sorrow, his father 
got up, went straight to the Cure, and 
made his confession for the first time 
for many past years. 

The next day he received the Holy 
Communion, kneeling by the side of 
his son, and it may well be imagined 
that neither mother nor daughters 
could witness this solemn and touch- 
ing sight without deep emotion. 

The sisters had never before assisted 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 43 

at any office in a Catholic Church, and. 
they were all greatly impressed ; Eve- 
line was in tears during the whole 
ceremony, and as she heard the joyous 
strains of the Lauda Sion, and listened 
to the heart-stirring, earnest address 
to those who were about to make their 
First Communion ; when she saw the 
adoring reverence with which even the 
youngest children went up to receive 
their Lord, she felt that He was indeed 
present there, and that her soul would 
die if she did not eat of that Living 
Bread, the Panis Angelorufn, which 

^^ Hidden deep from human eyes, 
Lo !' upon the Altar lies ! " 

When she returned home, she threw 
herself into her sister's arms, and told 



44 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

her she had decided to become a 
Catholic. 

And now we must turn for a few 
moments to the mother, who had been, 
alas ! unable to participate with her 
husband and her boy in that holy 
Eucharistic Feast. 

She too had been deeply impressed 
by her child's piety and faith. The 
first streaks of the light of truth were 
beginning to dawn through the dark- 
ness of error and prejudice which had 
hitherto surrounded her; seed had 
been sown which had begun to germi- 
nate ; she felt disturbed — unsatisfied, 
and yet, it seemed to be impossible — 
nay, wrong — even to think of leaving 
the religion of her whole life, the reli- 
igion in which her beloved mother had 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 45 

lived and died, and to which she was 
still bound by strong family ties. She 
was like a rudderless ship tossing on 
the sea; doubts were surging up around 
her ; but she bid her heart be still, and 
hoped by prayer that calm would be 
restored. When, therefore, the girls 
went to her, and told her of their de- 
sire to become Catholics, and that 
they could no longer be happy in the 
Protestant religion, she was indeed 
grieved, and her heart was troubled. 
'^ Oh ! my dear children," she cried, 
"you could have told me nothing 
which could give me more pain ! '' 
But at last, overcome by Eveline's 
earnest entreaties, she reluctantly gave 
her consent to their receiving instruc- 
tion, and the children were satisfied. 
On the following Sunday, she acceded 



' 



46 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

to Eveline's most urgent request, and 
went for the first time to the village 
church ; and there a ray of Faith 
seemed to shine in upon her soul, for 
from that hour her hesitation and re- 
luctance to seek after truth melted 
away as snow before the sun. She 
followed the series of admirable in- 
structions given by the good Cure to 
her children, which soon bore the most 
blessed fruit to all. They felt that he 
was teaching them the Truth; that the 
Catholic Church was the One Church 
— the Church of Christ ; and, ere long, 
their hearts were filled with that peace 
and rest which flow from the posses- 
sion of truth. 

In the following July, on the Feast 
of our Lady of Mount Carmel, many 
eyes in that village church were filled 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 4/ 

with tears of joy and thankfulness 
when they saw the mother and her 
, three young daughters dressed in 
white, kneeling before the Altar, to 
pronounce the form of abjuration ; 
and all hearts were praising God for 
the great grace which He had vouch- 
safed to them. 

It was the good, venerable Bishop 
of the Diocese who received them into 
the Church : he celebrated the Holy 
Mass, and it was from his hands that 
they received their first Communion. 
And now husband and wife, brother 
and sisters, with every servant of the 
family, partook together, with rever- 
ence and thanksgiving, of that Divine 
Banquet where Jesus in His Love 
gives Himself for our Food ! 




CHAPTER II. 



HOME LIFE. 




'* She hath opened her hand to the needy, and 
stretched out her hands to the poor. — She hath 
opened her mouth to wisdom, and the law of 
clemency is on her tongue." — Prov. xxxi. 

IROM that glorious day the 
life of Eveline was one of 
steady growth in grace; she had 
now but one desire — to do the will 
of God, whatever it might cost her; 
but one aim — to advance in the 
way of perfection. Her yearning 
after a religious life began to take 

a more decided shape, but God had 

48 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 49 

Still work for her to do in her family 
and in the world, and the time of sac- 
rifice had not yet come when she was 
to leave all to follow Him. She re- 
solved, therefore, to wait till God should 
make His voice more distinctly heard 
within her, and set herself to try to 
become more worthy of the special 
grace she hoped one day to receive. 

The world, with all its attractions 
and illusions, was opening out to this 
bright and joyous young girl ; a bril- 
liant and happy future seemed before 
her, but she was neither dazzled nor 
allured by these seductive charms; she 
understood the nothingness and emp- 
tiness of all that is not God, and felt 
a great disgust for the world and its 
pleasures ; while at the same time she 



so SCEUR EUGENIE, 

always showed the greatest indulgence 
for those who did not share her tastes. 
Her piety was deep and ardent, but 
there was never anything exaggerated 
about it; always gay and cheerful, 
she never made herself singular or 
remarkable. Although very severe 
for herself, her charity and tenderness 
for others were unbounded ; she was 
ingenious in finding excuses for their 
faults, and never said an unkind word 
of any one. She had the more merit 
in this, for she had by nature a keen 
sense of the ridiculous, great vivacity, 
and a quick perception of the weak 
points of others. 

Like most of God's servants, she at 
one time went through much interior 
suffering. There was even a moment 



SCEUR EUGENIE, Si 

of danger lest her excessive delicacy 
of conscience might degenerate into 
too great scrupulousness. She would 
reproach herself for imaginary sins, 
and weep for hours over her smallest 
faults. She suffered cruelly, thinking 
herself unworthy of God's favor. But 
God in His great love gave her a 
director who was enlightened, and at 
the same time prudent, tender, and 
firm. By the assistance of grace, he 
soon succeeded in healing her troubled 
soul, and in restoring her to the light 
and plenitude of the spiritual life, in 
which she henceforth made the most 
rapid progress. 

Associated with her sisters in all 
their studies and pursuits, there exist- 
ed between the three a deep and rare 



52 SCEUR EUGj^NIE. 

affection. They were never separated 
even for a day, until the marriage of 
her youngest sister, which took place 
some years later; and, as Eveline 
playfully said, they were " like a tre- 
foil,'' so closely were they united. 

Eveline had an intense love of music, 
with a very correct taste in her appre- 
ciation of its beauties, though she never 1 1 
attained to the same proficiency in 
playing as her sisters, who were both 
most accomplished musicians. She 
was also extremely fond of drawing, 
for which she had considerable talent. 
Her great pleasure was in illustrating | 

the Psalms, and choice extracts from 
her favorite authors, and she designed 
and etched these illustrations with in- 
finite taste and delicacy of touch, 



SCEUR EUGJENIE. S3 

choosing for her models the most 
graceful wild flowers and grasses. 

She was passionately fond of flow- 
ers. She considered them as celestial 
messengers, and sweet pledges of a 
Heavenly Father's love. To her in- 
nocent fancy they seemed to sing of 
the love of God, and to reflect His 
perfections in their exquisite forms, 
their rich colors, and their delicious 
perfumes. One of her favorite flowers 
was the beautiful white lily : the type 
of her who was so humble on earth, 
and so glorious in eternity — the pure 
Virgin of Nazareth, and the Queen of 
Heaven — of Mary our Mother, and 
the Mother of God ! She loved the 
lily also, because it grows nowhere so 
luxuriantly as in the cottage garden. 



54 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

where among the dwelHngs of the 
poor and the lowly, it rears those 
stately blossoms of which our Lord 
says, "that not even Solomon in all 
his glory was arrayed as one of these/' 
(St. Matt. V. 29.) 

Her sisters cared little more than 
Eveline did, to mix in the gay round 
of balls and parties which enlivened 

the town of X ; though it must 

not be supposed that they lived in 
solitude and seclusion, for they had a 
circle of chosen and intimate friends, 
whose society afforded them much 
intellectual and social enjoyment ; and 
in the exuberance of youth and hap- 
piness, they took pleasure in all the 
innocent amusements of country life. 
Their great delight was in making 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 55 

country expeditions, particularly when 
the boys were at home for the holi- 
days, and on horseback and in car- 
riages they used to start, with a well- 
stocked basket, to spend long days at 
one or other of the charming sites 
which abound in their neighborhood. 
One of their favorite excursions was 
^ to a dilapidated old chapel ,on the 
summit of a barren hill, which was ap- 
'proached by a long ascent through 
shady groves of chestnut-trees and 
oaks. Three large crosses stood in 
front of the shrine, where a lamp was 
always burning before an ancient and 
venerated statue of our Lady of Mercy, 
The view was magnificent and exten- 
sive. Eveline was never tired of sit- 
ting on the platform, gazing on the 



56 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

majestic mountain peaks — so white 
against the deep blue cloudless sky — 
and on the waving lines of wooded 
hills, which sloped down to the rich 
and verdant valleys lying at her feet. 
She loved to dream over the saintly 
legends connected with that wild spot, 
now lonely and silent, except on cer- 
tain feast-days, when crowds of devout 
pilgrims may still be seen, kneeling 
round the old Sanctuary, invoking the 
aid of the Mother of Mercy. 

Years passed on, and beyond occa- 
sional visits to Paris, and one to Eng- 
land, with summer tours to the sea-side, 
or to the '' Eaux,*' no great event took 
place in Eveline's bright and happy 
home, over which hardly any cloud had 
as yet cast its shadow. But now one of 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 57 

the leaflets was gathered from the 
" trefoil/' and the youngest sister, 
Eveline's constant companion, and the 
sharer of all her thoughts and feelings, 
left her home as a bride, with the hus- 
band of her choice. It was the first 
separation ; and while her family re- 
joiced in her joy, and in her prospect 
of happiness, the loss of this fair and 
loved one from the home circle was 
not the less keenly felt and mourned. 
A close and steady correspondence 
was kept up between the sisters, and 
the rich depths of Eveline's loving 
nature are fully manifested in her let- 
ters, touching in their tenderness, in 
which she seemed to pour out her 
whole soul to that sweet sister to 
whom she was so devotedly attached. 



58 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

The following extracts are from two 
letters written not long after her sis- 
ter s departure, telling her of the death 
of one of the poor women they had 
known and visited together. 

"I was praying in the church after 
Mass on this first day of May, when I 
saw Claverie come in, looking very 
much excited. I took no notice, but 
in a few moments the Cure sent to beg 
me to come to the Sacristy. It was 
to tell me that poor Mme. Pierre was 
dead. I was so shocked : she died at 
7 o'clock yesterday evening, and I had 

been to see her with Papa and R ^ 

and was sitting reading to her till after 
6 o'clock. She had never seemed to 
me better, or more full of hope of 

^ Her youngest brother. 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 59 

being cured ; and when Pierre went 
home after his day's work, he found 
her stretched upon her bed, and quite 
dead ! I cannot tell you, my dearest 
B , how I thank God that He in- 
spired me to go and see her yester- 
day. I should never have consoled 
myself if she had died so suddenly 
without my having been to visit her, 
and I should have fancied all manner 
of things which would have grieved 
me. Poor old woman ! She is gone, 
and there is another tie broken which 
bound us to the past. She was so 
pleased to see us yesterday, she put 
her large straw arm-chair outside the 
door for Papa, who sat there with 

R to rest, while I went in to pay 

her a little visit. I offered to read to 



60 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

her. She first brought me a Httle 
devotional book, but she changed her 
mind, and asked me to read the Pas- 
sion of our Lord. I thought it was 
not quite appropriate to this happy 
Easter time, but God Almighty knew 
better than I did. While I read, she 
repeated after me in a low voice every 
word of that sublime narrative, the 
whole of which she knew by heart, 
and from time to time she devoutly 
kissed a figure of our Saviour, which 
was on a medal I had brought her. 
When I had finished reading, she told 
me with emotion that she was so 
happy in having made her Easter 
Communion, and that she had prayed 
so much for us all, and especially for 
you, my darling ; and when I got up 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 6 1 

to come away, and told her she was to 
be sure and let us know if she were 
worse, she said, ' Oh, yes ; but I have 
great hopes that I am going to get 
well/ Then she clasped her hands 
and said so fervently, ' I have such 
confidence in God Almighty, — such 
great confidence, such great confidence; ' 
and she will not have been deceived, 
for 'they who trust in Him shall never 

be confounded/ Oh, dearest B ^ 

what a glorious transition for that 
poor weak suffering mortal from her 
humble cottage to the feet of her 
Saviour, and later — perhaps at once 
- — to Heaven ! The Cure said to me, 
'She was not able to receive the last 
sacraments, but in her case I can feel 
no uneasiness/ A few moments more, 

6 



62 SCECR EUGEXIE. 

she would have died in my arms. To 
all appearance the end was calm and 
very peaceful, but I should like to 
have been there, and to have soothed 
her last moments." 

'^ May 3. 
"Yesterdav went to sav a last fare- 
well to poor ^^Imie. Pierre, and to the lit- 
tle cotrao;e where we had been so often 
together. There was a memory of the 
past in everything about the place — 
the tufts of stock and mignonette at 
the door — the little window near the 
bed, from which we looked out on our 
dear home — the straw arm-chair, and 

H 's chanceliere, We were quite 

overcome vrhen we went into that little 
room where the Ano'el of Death had 
preceded us by so short a time. Upon 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 63 

the bed lay the earthly envelope of 
that liberated soul which had so long 
beaten against the bars of its prison. 
All was arranged according to the 
usual simple and respectful custom of 
our peasants which you know so well. 
The body was covered with a white 
sheet, on which sweet-smelling herbs 
were scattered ; her hands were joined 
as in prayer ; on a little table at her 
side was a crucifix, with Holy Water, 
and the ' Palm' branch, which was still 
almost fresh. Poor old Pierre was by 
her bed, touching in his unaffected 
grief; the neighbors were taking it 
by turns to pray by the corpse. The 
poor husband gave us each a holy pic- 
ture as a remembrance of our dear old 
friend. She was buried this morning; 



64 S(EUR EUGENIE. 

her departure will be unnoticed in this 
world, but her soul, as precious to her 
Saviour as that of the greatest earthly 
prince, has been received, we may 
confidently hope, into the Holy City/' 
The letter which follows, giving an 
account of the Feast of the Assump- 
tion on that same year, will show, bet- 
ter than any description can do, what 
a vein of love and piety runs through 
all Eveline's most familiar writings. 

'^ Aug, i6. 
" Yesterday, my sweet sister, was a 
great day for the parish in general, 
and for us in particular ; a day of holy 
happiness, full of prayers and good 
wishes for our beloved Maries, one 
on which your absence, dearest, cast 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 65 

that tinge of sadness which is ever 
mingled with our earthly joys, remind- 
ing us always that they are only the 
figure of heavenly joys. We had 
been preparing for this great and 
dear Festival by following a quiet 
simple retreat, given by our old friend, 

Father E , of which dear Mary 

(who has done wonders in getting up 
early to go to the sermons) has already 
spoken to you. It was a course of 
very simple, practical instructions, 
preached by a holy missionary in- 
flamed with the love of God. They 
have done us all good, and they have 

left behind a sweet recollection 

After dinner on the Eve of the Feast, 
Marie and I were told in a mysterious 
way that the gardener was waiting. 



66 SCEUR EUGEXIE. 

We slipped away to our dear mother's 
room, where we found Chartier with a 
beautiful collection of plants. In a 
few moments we transformed the lat- 
ticed window into a reo["ular orreen- 
house, with the most lovely fuchsias, 
geraniums, bigonias, &c. I assure you 
it was exquisite. We wrote a little 
word of affectionate congratulation, 
which we confided to a geranium, and 
then we carefully shut the window that 
our handiwork mio^ht not be seen be- 
fore it was lighted up by the beautiful 

sun of the Assumption On the 

morning of the Festival your two de- 
lightful letters and beautiful bouquet 
o;reeted our two Maries when thev 
woke, and made them so happy by 
bringing them all your loving wishes. 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 6/ 

The weather was glorious, the sky 
without a cloud, and our angel of a 
mother on opening her window was 
charmed by the unusual perfume of 
the breeze, and by the brilliant array 
of flowers which met her eye. Our 
darling Marie found also, when she 
rose, her share of tender souvenirs, 
which told her once more that no 
distance can keep loving hearts asun- 
der While we read your dear 

letters, it seemed as if you were there 
once more among us, mingling your 
wishes, your prayers, your embraces, 
with ours. But it was at the Holy 
Mass, at that sublime office of the 
Church, that we thought most of you. 
My heart transported itself very near 
to yours under the vaulted, prayer- 



68 SCEUjR EUGENIE. 

impregnated roof of Notre Dame des 
Victoires, and I rejoiced in that perfect 
love which unites us in the heart of 

God. Dearest B , you would have 

been so pleased if you had seen our 
little church ; it was decorated with 
such extreme care ; at the entrance to 
the choir, arches of roses and green 
had been put up, on which was written 
'A Jesus pour toujours! They sung 
the 'Messe Royale,' which you like so 
much, with the organ-accompaniment 
to the Credo, After the Gospel of the 
day, — Martha and Mary, the two 
sisters beloved by Jesus, — Father 

E preached an admirable sermon, 

of which I should like to remember each 
word, as it fell drop by drop into my 
heart. The text was from those words 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 69 

of St. Paul, ' I live ; yet not I, but 
Christ liveth In me/ (Gal. ii. 20.) 
The subject was the entire, complete, 
and perfect union of the Saviour with 
the faithful Christian. He spoke of 
Holy Communion in a way which 
made me shed tears of thankfulness 
and love for such ineffable mercy and 
such incomprehensible condescension. 
Oh, dearest B — — , how much you 
would have liked to hear those ardent 
words inspired by the love of God ! 
The children who were to make their 
first Communion were all ranged in 
front of the Holy Table, and behind 
them, those who had made it last year, 
among whom were Jean, your little 
chorister, Marie, and Anna. All were 
profoundly devout. Before the Cure 



70 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

left the altar, he addressed a few words 
to them, words that came so directly 
from his heart, that the children were 
moved to tears. I looked at Tny two 
with special interest ; their conduct 
was edifying; poor little Cadeton 
sobbed so much that his whole body 
shook, and the Communion cloth was 
soaked with his tears, and Jean looked 
just like a little saint. Each one was 
in turn initiated into the Sacred Mys- 
tery — the sun of our earthly pil- 
grimage — and I feel sure that they 
all prayed much for you, my sweet 
sister. When the hymns were sung, 
the children did their best, but we felt 
sadly the loss of their dear mistress ! 
The whole ceremony was very im- 
pressive. I don't know why, but it 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 7 1 

seemed to me as if I had never seen 
one like it. More than half the parish 
went to Holy Communion ; the Cure 

and Father E had been in the 

Confessional, the day before, from 5 
o'clock in the morning till mid- 
night 

" A thousand times during that day 
my heart was with yours, dearest 
B , throbbing with the same emo- 
tions, filled with the same thoughts. 
Dear Marie, and I fancied so often how 
happy you would be, listening to the 
thrilling chants in that privileged Sanc- 
tuary which you had chosen for that 
day's devotions, and we recalled all 
that you had done here last year ; the 
rehearsals, the lessons, above all, the 
repetition on the Vigil of the great 



^ 



72 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

Feast. I shall never forget going to 
meet you on that evening at the 
church — it was mysteriously dark, 
being lit by one wax-candle only, and 
you were seated there, in the half- 
shadow, surrounded by your attentive 
class, teaching them to sing to the 
glory of God, for the love of whom 
you were doing all these things. The 
remembrance of that year is all that 
now remains, but it is as fresh as ever, 
and a very sweet one.'' . . • 

And now the call came to Eveline 
to devote herself entirely to the ser- 
vice of God in His poor. She heard 
the voice of Jesus, saying, " If thou 
wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, 
and give to the poor, and come follow 



..yi . 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 73 

Me/' (St. Matt. xix. 21.) For her to 
give up the world was nothing : to 
leave those she loved so intensely, to 
bid farewell to her dear home, that 
made her heart bleed. But she re- 
membered the words of Christ, " He 
who loveth father or mother' more 
than Me, is not worthy of Me.'' (St. 
Matt. X. 37.) She resolved to give up 
all for God, who had shown her so 
much love, and to advance resolutely 
in the way of sacrifice. But before 
speaking more of her vocation, a few 
words must be said about her manner 
of life previously to leaving her home; 
for it was, so to speak, an apprentice- 
ship to that life of self-renunciation to 
which she was called. She rose at 5 

o'clock in winter and summer alike, 
7 



74 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

and went to an early Mass at the 
village church. Her maid, who was 
a pious girl, and fortunately shared 
her tastes, accompanied her, and on 
the dark winter mornings they carried 
a lantern to light them on their way. 
In church she seemed to be wholly 
absorbed in God ; the Cure said he 
had rarely seen any one pray as she 
did. On her return home she spent 
an hour in spiritual reading and medi- 
tation. After breakfast she employed 
herself in reading, and in working for 
the poor. She was very skilful with 
her needle, and was never so happy 
as when she was alone in her room, 
with her Imitation open on her knees, 
making clothes or mending stockings 
for her old women. Twice a week 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 75 

she had a Catechism class for children, 
in preparation for their First Com- 
munion. She had great aptitude for 
teaching, and the Cure was in the 
habit of sending her all the dullest 
and the most refractory and obstinate 
children ; for with her patience, gentle- 
ness, and kindness, she always con- 
trived to make something of the most 
unpromising pupils. Besides this class, 
she daily instructed a number of chil- 
dren in reading, writing, and arith- 
metic. In the afternoon, she was al- 
ways ready to accompany her mother 
and sisters in their walks or drives, 
but whatever time she could spare 
was devoted to visiting the poor. She 
loved them tenderly, especially the 
sick and the suffering, for whom she 



76 SCEUR EUGEXIE. 

always felt the deepest compassion. 
She spared herself no trouble in try- 
ing to comfort and relieve them ; she 
made their beds, changed their linen, 
dressed their sores, and never allowed 
herself to be deterred by natural feel- 
ings of repugnance or disgust. The 
poor seemed to forget her youth ; her 
judgment and good sense inspired 
them with so much trust, that they 
made her the co7ijida7ite of all their 
griefs and difficulties. They always 
found her willing to sympathize and 
console, and readv to orive wise coun- 
sel and judicious advice. 

Even when a little child, she always 
showed the greatest pity for suffering 
under every form, and seemed most 
kindly disposed towards those whom no 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 7/ 

one thought of or noticed ; as she grew 
older, it was remarked, that it was al- 
ways to the unattractive of her father s 
guests that she devoted herself with 
the most winning kindness and grace, 
as if anxious to make up to them for 
the indifference and coldness of others. 
And now that the love of her Heavenly 
Master became the spring of her ac- 
tions, and she sought in all things to 
imitate His Divine Example, her char- 
ity grew deeper and stronger still, and 
it was the infirm, the neglected, and 
the repulsive, that she singled out as 
the objects of her preference. A friend 
relates, that one day, when walking 
with Eveline in the country, they 
stopped to look at two children play- 
ing at a cottage-door. One was a 



78 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

lovely cherub-faced little fellow, but 
scarcely noticing its beauty, which 
alone had arrested the attention of her 
friend, Eveline was immediately at- 
tracted to the other, a puny, sickly 
child. She took it in her arms and 
kissed it, speaking fond caressing 
words to the poor suffering little one. 
Nor was her humility less remark- 
able than her charity. Her manner 
was so modest and retiring, that her 
sisters called her '' the Violet.'' She 
shunned all praise and admiration, and 
sought in all things the glory of God. 
At home she always took the last place, 
and the worst of everything, and 
undertook all the most wearisome and 
tiresome tasks, with so much goodwill, 
gayety, and charm, that she appeared 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 79 

only to be following her own inclina- 
tion. In a word, her life from morn- 
ing to night was one of daily mortifi- 
cation and constant sacrifice of self, 
and day by day, God was bestowing 
fresh graces on her soul ; for, as we 
read in the ''Imitation '': " The more 
a man dieth to himself, the more he 
liveth unto God ; . . . . the more that 
nature is curbed and subdued, so much 
the more abundantly is grace infused, 
until by its renewed visitations, the in- 
terior man groweth more and more 
like unto the image of God/' 









CHAPTER III. 



RELIGIOUS VOCATION. 




" O Seigneur Jesus ! je ne veux plus de choix ! 
Que Votre Volonte soit faite, sans si, sans mais, sans 
exception, sur toutes choses et sur moi-meme." — 
Ste. Chantal. 

T was no surprise to her parents 
when EveHne told them of her 
vocation to a rehgious Hfe, and her 
desire to become a Sister of Charity. 
They had suspected it for some time 
past, as they saw that her resolution 
not to marry was unalterable, and that 

her detachment from earthly things 

80 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 8 1 

was daily increasing. The thought of 
parting with a child who was their joy 
and delight was a bitter one ; the sepa- 
ration would be a trial heavier almost 
than they could bear, but like truly 
Christian parents, they felt that in 
giving their darling to the service of 
God, they insured her happiness for 
time and for eternity; and they re- 
solved, if her vocation proved a true 
one, generously to unite in her sacri- 
fice, and give thanks to God, with sub- 
missive hearts, that He had called her 
to consecrate herself to Him, in taking 
care of the suffering members of His 
Divine Son. Still, in fear lest she 
might be carried away by her enthu- 
siasm and ardent zeal, they urged upon 
her to delay yet awhile, to weigh the 



82 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

matter still more carefully, and to see 
something more of the world before 
making her final decision. For this 
reason they proposed to go to Paris, 
that she might test her vocation by 
coming in contact with relations and 
friends who certainly would not en- 
courage or support it, and perhaps not 
without a secret hope on their own 
part that the sacrifice might not be 
required. 

This was doubtless a time of struggle, 
trial, and great suffering to Eveline, 
who often feared that she would sink 
under the weight of her cross. There 
was never any hesitation in obeying 
the call, though, out of deference to 
her parents' wishes, she might have 
agreed to delay her decision, had it 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 83 

not been for some words in a sermon, 
preached by a very earnest eloquent 
English* Priest, in the chapel of the 
very hospital where she afterwards 
made her postulate. These words 
spoke straight to her heart, bidding 
her " do quickly that which her hand 
found to do/' She felt that she would 
not draw down God's blessing by 
holding back when He called her to 
advance. She then told her father 
and mother she was ready to go to 
Paris if they liked, but her determi- 
nation was made, and she must enter 
on her new life with as little delay as 
possible. 

The will of God seemed now so 
clearly manifested in regard to her 
vocation, that her family began to feel 



84 SCEUR EUGEXIE, 

it was no longer right to resist it, and 
her father gave her the permission, full 
and entire, to enter the Hospital of 

X at the end of the summer. 

Her sister, whose heart bled at the 
thought of the coming separation, 
wrote at this time to one of her rela- 
tions : — ''You have heard what our 
Blessed Lord requires of us — even 
the sacrifice of our little saint, the 
angel of our household, our comfort 
and our joy ! . . . We strive to look 
upon her saintly calling entirely in the 
lio-ht of a blessinor to us all. We 
struggle to detach ourselves from 
every earthly and personal and selfish 
feelino-, and to consider onlv the ex- 
ceeding happiness, the real privilege 
of such a holy vocation. The struggle 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 85 

is great, and often we fail and break 
down, but God, who demands the 
great sacrifice, will give us the need- 
ful strength to accomplish it. Our 
precious Eveline is full of courage, 
determination, and cheerfulness. She 
sustains us all. But her mind is made 
up. Her resolution is irrevocable, 
and it is useless pleading with her, 
for the voice of God drowns every 
other voice. A saint in the world 
does not satisfy her cravings after per- 
fection. She must be a saint out of 
the world, with nothing between her 
and heaven. I believe no one can 
fully understand the irresistible force 
of a religious calling but those whom 
God chooses for His own special ser- 
vants and followers. When we ask 

8 



86 S(EUR EUGENIE, 

her to wait a year more, she answers, 
'I have waited four years already, and 
God will punish us severely, every 
one of us, if I delay longer/ She will 
tell you better than I can what are her 
motives and thoughts and aspirations/' 

It was in vain that, in Paris, disap- 
proving relations tried all that persua- 
sion could do ; they were astonished 
at the firmness and fixity of purpose 
of one they had hitherto found so 
gentle and yielding, and saw it was 
impossible to shake her resolve. She 
met with opposition on all sides, but 
she heeded it not. Writing on this 

subject, she says: "I know that 

disapproves of my conduct, but so it 
must be ; every one cannot commend 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 87 

me ; indeed, it would be a great 
stumbling-block if they did, for some- 
thing human might then be mixed 
up with what ought to come from 
God, and which does come from Him 
alone/' 

And again : 

"It has pleased our merciful God 
to look upon His poor, weak, sinful 
creature, and to call me to serve Him 
all the days of my life, in the person 
of his suffering poor. I can never be 
sufficiently grateful for so great a 
mercy, and for the blessed path He 
opens before me, to lead me through 
this short pilgrimage to our only real 
home. I must turn my thoughts from 
myself, and lose them in His mercy, 
or the feeling of my miserable un- 



5» SCEUR EUGENIE. 

worthiness would crush me altogether. 

True, my H , it is a deep sorrow 

to quit my beloved ones, and cause 
them were it but a moment of grief. 
No earthly consideration would have 
ever led me to do this, but He who 
calls me knows what is best ; it is not in 
disobeying His will that I could insure 
their happiness. Oh no, darling, I 
trust tJmt happiness, which is dear^er to 
me than my own, to pur Saviour's 
love, with trusting faith ; it is better 
there than in my poor hands. . . . We 
have each different callings, and weak 
and ignorant as we are of what is 
best, we have but one prayer to make 
— 'Thy will be done.' Our dear Lord 
has promised to hear it, and in grant- 
ing it — at the price of whatever sacrj- 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 89 

fice — He gives us His peace, which 
indeed 'passeth understanding/ '' "^ 

From the earliest days of Christian- 
ity the spirit of the world has been in 
antagonism with the monastic spirit, 
and so it will be to the end of time. 
On the one side there is pride of in- 
tellect, revolt against authority, self- 
love, and sensuality ; on the other, 
reverence, obedience, simplicity, and 
purity. The world, which will not 
recognize the action of God's grace 
in the supernatural order, and which 
makes the love of creatures take the 
place of Divine love, can know nothing 
of that intensity of love which abandons 
all for God, and offers all to Him ; 
which is without measure, and leads 

"^ Written in English. 
8* 



90 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

to the height of sacrifice, that of the 
body, a sacrifice *' living, holy, pleasing 
unto God," (Rom. xii. 2,) — that of the 
willy the holocaust of which it is said 
*' Obedience is better than sacrifice/' 
(i Kings XV. 22.) The world imagines 
that, in the religious life, human affec- 
tions are weakened and human ties 
broken, whereas they are hallowed, 
perfected, and strengthened. It ridi- 
cules mortification and self-renuncia- 
tion, forgetting that Jesus says, " If 
any man will come after me let him 
deny himself, and take up his cross 
daily and follow Me.'' (St. Luke ix. 
23.) And again, 'i Every one that hath 
left house or brethren, or sisters, or 
father, or mother, or wife, or children, 
or lands, for my name's sake, shall 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 9! 

receive an hundred - fold, and shall 
possess life everlasting/' (St. Matt, 
xix. 29.) 

But this is a digression. 

In order that Eveline might have an 
opportunity of bidding farewell to her 
relations on her mother's side, to whom 
she was very fondly attached, a few 
days were devoted to a visit to Eng- 
land before the family returned home. 

On the journey to Boulogne she 
wrote to her sister Marie the follow- 
ing letter, which was jotted down in 
pencil at intervals on the way. 

" I write in the corner of the railway 
carriage, and not without some material 
difficulties, for we are going like 
the wind; but my heart will, I hope, 
steady my hand. 



92 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

"We are flying through fields of 
corn and oats, enamelled with bhcets 
and poppies, which are refreshing in 
that beauty which God scatters so 
bountifully over our path wherever we 
may be. Mamma and E. are chatting 
comfortably together; Emile, after 
telling me of all kinds of horrible rail- 
way accidents, has gone to sleep ; 
H ,^ holding her umbrella ener- 
getically in her hand, and looking like 
the Lion in the Arms of Great Britain, 
is also slumbering soundly. A German 
and his wife are in the opposite corner. 
They have just finished eating bread and 
cold tongue in their fingers. Mamma 
says it is a case of honeymoon, but I 
don't see much sign of it. — And you, 

* An old lady's maid. 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 93 

my sweet sister, what are you doing ? 
At breakfast, I fancy, with our darling 
B. I see the flowers on the table, I 
smell the perfume of the strawberries 
and pine-apples, and I see you all, dear 
ones, so good and sweet, so lovely, 
loving, and beloved ! Oh, thanks to 
the goodness of our Heavenly Father, 
this frail little body of ours, where our 
soul dwells, is not a prison, and there 
is no distance which can separate 
hearts who love each other in Him. 
You know how St. Paul, with his 
sympathetic soul, says, ' I am absent in 
the body, but present in spirit.' — And 
yet, if you were here, my own dear 
sister, how delightful it would be ! but 

I must not speak of this 

"We shall pass by Amiens, and I 



94 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

would give worlds to pray for all my 
loved ones under the shadow of its 
Cathedral, but I suppose this cannot 
be thought of. I don't know if you 
will be able to read my scrawl ; the 
train is swinging, and writhing like a 
wounded serpent. Here and there 
we pass windmills which tell us, as 
they fling their arms, about, that a gale 
is blowing at sea ! 

"At Amiens we got out, and stuffed 
down beef-steaks and potatoes, E.'s 
preventive treatment against sea-sick- 
ness. She is inexorable as to choco- 
late and biscuits! We did not even 
see Amiens, far less its Cathedral ; it 
was a curious sight to see the cas- 
cade of English pouring out on the 
platform, and to watch them at the 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 95 

buffet, eating cutlets, chickens, and 

beef-steaks 

"We are now flying through villages, 
filled with men and women, who have 
each their interests, their hopes, their 
joys, and their troubles, which are of 
immense importance to themselves, 
and of which we shall never know 
anything. And our Heavenly Father 
knows, considers, and directs all that 
with a love which we shall only under- 
stand in Heaven! — 7)^^ German is 
asleep, his wife is asleep, Emile is asleep, 
H, is asleep ; Mamma and E. are still 
talking deliciously ; and I — am think- 
ing ; no — I am writing to you — it is 
all one ! With what joy I shall receive 
your letter telling me of yourself, of 
our darling B., and her sweet little 



96 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

angel - child ! What a blessing to 
have among us that pure little soul 
fresh from the hands of God, still 
perfumed with the graces of Bap- 
tism ! It inspires one with respect, for 
as yet it is unsullied by one speck of 
the dust of this earth. 

"And now, au revoir, my dearest 
sister. O my God ! bless my pre- 
cious Marie as the fervent loving heart 
of her Eveline beseeches Thee to 
bless her ! '' 

It was the year of the Exhibition of 
1862, and Eveline paid several visits 
to that huge emporium of all that art 
and industry could produce. It inter- 
ested her immensely: there was, of 
course, much to please her eye, and 
charm her fancy; but what she liked 



S(E UR E UGj^NIE. 97 

best were the pictures, for they spoke 
to her heart. And the constant bent 
and direction of her thoughts and 
tastes were shown by the paintings 
which she preferred ; she loved to 
Hnger before such pictures as the 
Christian Martyr of Diocletian's time, 
or Herbert's pale and weary ^' Magda- 
lene,'* going in the early dawn, tearful 
and loving, bearing sweet spices, to the 
Sepulchre of her beloved Master. 

While deeply regretting the step 
which Eveline was about to take, her 
Protestant relatians were too much 
attached to her, and had too great an 
admiration for her character, to con- 
demn what they could not understand. 
They, and indeed all the friends who 
saw her, were struck by the angelic 

9 G 



98 SCEUI^ EUGENIE, 

expression of her countenance : there 
was a calm and peace in it which was 
not of this world, it reflected the beauty 
of the soul Avithin — a soul which dwelt 
with God. 

In one of her letters from England, 
she mentions having seen some old 
friends who had lately become very 
"High Church." She says: ''x-\. has 
been reading the life of the Cure 
d*Ars, and was enthusiastic about him. 
She spoke as many Catholics would 
not have done. Oh ! what a strange 
religion that Protestantism is ! so illog- 
ical,"^ so vacillating, only living from 
the scattered rays which remain to it 
from the dazzling light of its lost 
beauty ! The more I see of pious and 

* T?u:ons/qiiente in the original. 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 99 

fervent Protestants, the more I am 
struck by their thirst after truth, and 
that restless uneasiness which drives 
many so wonderfully towards the true 
Church ! " 

Though her own Director, and other 
Priests who had been consulted, were 
all agreed as to the reality of her vo- 
cation, it was decided, for the greater 
satisfaction of her family, that, while 
in England, Eveline should take the 
advice of Mgr. Manning, now Arch- 
bishop of Westminster. She writes : 

" This morning we went to Dr. 
Manning's church, St. Mary of the 
Angels, hoping to see him, but we 
found a note, telling us he had been 
obliged to go to preach at Westminster, 
and we cannot therefore see him till 



lOO SCEUR EUGENIE, 

to-morrow. The Mass was admirably 
sung, and we had a beautiful sermon 
on the Precious Blood of our Lord, 
and its immeasurable virtue. And 
you, my darling, were near me as 
I was near to you, not in figure, but 
in reality. We assisted at the same 
Adorable Sacrifice, our souls were to- 
gether at the foot of the same Throne 
of Grace, united in the same prayers, 
our heads were bowed to adore the 
same beloved Master, and to receive 
the benediction. Oh glorious liberty 
of those souls which are united in 
Jesus Christ ! It is in vain that events 
and circumstances, time and distance, 
seem to separate them ! They rise on 
the wings of love, far above all those 
things, and meet in the Heart of their 



SCEUR EUGENIE. lOI 

Master and Divine Saviour. Yes, 
dear Marie, I know that when I am 
praying for you, you are praying for 
me ; when I go to our Lord to ask 
Him to give you peace, and strength 
to suffer for Him all this world's trou- 
bles, I meet you making the same 
request for me. And let no one tell 
me 'that time can diminish this union. 
Oh, as to that, no ! Our Saviour 
* having loved His own who were in 
the world, loved them unto the end,' 
and ' This is His commandment, that 
we love one another, as He has loved 
us.' That which is of this world passes 
away like a breath of wind, but that 
which has its roots in the love of God 
will grow on forever." 

Next day they obtained an inter- 



102 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

view with Dr. Manning ; and she re- 
lates that, while her mother was having 
some conversation alone with him, she 
waited in another room, submitting 
herself unreservedly to the will of 
God, with her eyes fixed on a copy of 
Fra Angelico's " Last Judgment," in 
which those martyrs and Saints who 
have come out of great tribulation, 
are being led, with their crowns of 
glory, by the Angels into Heaven. 
At last Dr. Manning came in, and, 
sitting down, said to her, '' My child, 
your mother has told me about you, — 
now tell me about yourself She did 
so, and was filled with respect and 
admiration for his clear and forcible 
answers, and his gentle sympathy. She 
writes: *'He said what I expected, 



SCEUR EUGj^NIE. 103 

and he spoke with the lucidity of a 
mind illuminated by Divine light, and 
with the charity of a heart burning 
with the love of God. He answered 
every objection firmly, and quietly re- 
moved every obstacle to my vocation, 
which he recognized as coming from 
God/' When speaking to him of her 
parents' grief at parting with her, and 
of the loss it would be to her sister, 
he said, " My dear child, Jesus has al- 
ways done more for you than you have 
done for Him ; do you think that, if 
you leave all to follow Him, He will 
not take care of those you leave? 
We are completely in the dark as to 
the future. He knows what is best for 
us — we can only do what is right at 
the moment/' And, on the same sub- 



I04 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

ject, he said these beautiful words, 
*' My child, instead oi loss, suppose we 
say offering, that we may change sor- 
row into joy/' '' Yes,'' Eveline goes 
on to say, " we offer to our dear Lord 
the most precious of our possessions, 
our heart's dearest affections. We 
offer them to Him imperfect and liable 
to change, like all else that comes 
from Him." At parting. Dr. Manning 
promised Eveline that he would write 
some words to strengthen and console 
her sister ; and not long after she re- 
ceived the following letter : 

" I hear that your sister has already 
acted upon her desire to try her reli- 
gious vocation. I heartily thank God 
for it. When I spoke with her, I could 
not feel a doubt that it was right for 



S(EUR EUGENIE. lOS 

her to do so ; and, so far as one con- 
versation would justify me in judging 
so difficult a point, I felt no doubt that 
God had called her to serve Him alone 
in this world. I cannot refrain from 
expressing the admiration I felt at the 
faith and generosity of your excellent 
mother. I could see what the sacrifice 
was to her ; but she made it with the 
heart of a true disciple of Jesus Christ, 
and she, and all of you, will have your 
reward. I know, too, that it is a sacri- 
fice also for you ; but you are happier 
in giving your dear sister to our Divine 
Lord than to any other. I count you 
all very happy, for when God enters 
into a house with such a vocation, He 
brings with Him a blessing for all who 
dwell in it. Try always to look at 



I06 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

your sister as walking with the devout 
women who followed Jesus from Gali- 
lee to Jerusalem, and you will not feel 
her to be separated from you by 
being united to Him. 
" Believe me, always, 

Yours very sincerely in J. C, 

H. E. Manning/' 

A few weeks more, and Eveline 
was once again at the home she was 
soon to leave, surrounded by all those 
she loved best on earth. She writes : 
"We found our dear old home look- 
ing very quiet and pretty, and were 
greeted by many friendly faces and 
heartfelt congratulations on our re- 
turn Yesterday afternoon we 

drove to G , passing my favorite 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 10/ 

old shrine of Our Lady of Mercy; 
we had most lovely weather, and 
the country looked beautiful beyond 
words. Everything so green, so fresh, 
so fair! The glorious mountains in 
a blue hazy distance ; the quiet cows 
grazing so peacefully in the freshly 
mown fields, and the dear little ragged 
children running out to smile at us 
from behind the laden apple-trees, in 
the sunny little cottage gardens by 
the roadside. It was really refreshing 
to the soul. Oh ! what will our 
heavenly home be, since our passing 
dwelling-place is so beautiful !,...'' 
Before entering on her new life, she 
desired to perform one last important 
duty — that of assisting to prepare 
her third and youngest brother for his 



I08 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

First Communion. She mentions her 
happiness at being present at that cere- 
mony in a beautiful letter, written to 
her aunt in England at this time, which 
was one of such deep interest to them 
all, though in her humility she says 
nothing of her own large share in that 
work of preparation. 

"My Beloved H : 



* " For many weeks I have had the 
wish and intention of writing to you ; 
but, as every hour brought with it its 
necessary occupation till each day was 
filled up, I was obliged at last to con- 
tent myself with sending you that poor 
little picture you so kindly received, to 
show you that my thoughts were ever 

^ Written in English. 



S(EUR EUGENIE. IO9 

fondly with you, though I did not write. 
Did it tell you, as I meant that it should, 
dearest, that under the new garb it 
represented, and which I am now soon 
to wear, my heart would be more full 
than ever of undying love for all those 
it clings to now ? — for everything 
pure and eternal in our hearts must 
grow stronger and deeper in the ser- 
vice of God, who is love. My H , 

in your last beautiful letter to Marie 
you said, that you still hoped that the 
sacrifice we are going to make would 
not be required of us ; you added, also, 
that I might do more good by remain- 
ing in the world and exercising charity 
there. My darling, I am but a poor little 
instrument to do good anywhere, but 
believe me, I should be utterly worth- 



no S(BUR E UGENIE. 

less in any other place but that to 
which our dear Saviour has call'ed me. 
It is not because I do not feel the 
beauty of the life of a Christian in the 
world — (mine, indeed, will be in the 
world) — it is not because I hope for 
more happiness in my new estate that 
I enter into it. It is because I believe 
that my Lord has called me to it, and 
that it is the place He wishes me, His 
poor little atom of a creature, to fill in 
His vast creation. He has told me 
where I must work, and I am not free 
to work elsewhere, without disobe- 
dience and ingratitude. It is true that 
the sacrifice is great, but our Saviour 
asks me to participate in the cup of 
bitterness and cross of suffering He 
tasted, and bore for us on Calvary. 



S(E UR E UGENIE. 1 1 1 

He took the sharpest pang for Him- 
self, and all sufferers for the love of 
Him find through His grace, from that 
day, a supernatural peace and balm in 
all He pleases that they should endure. 

My H , there is but one question. 

Is this His holy will ? If so, it is ador- 
able, and lovely, and blessed ; how 
much so we shall only know when, 
through His mercy, we reach His 
eternal light, and when the things of 
this world will have passed away. My 
beloved parents understand this, and my 
sweet Marie, whose heart is one with 
mine, though so much above me in all 
ways. We draw closer and closer to each 
other, and we feel the eternal element 
flowing into our love ; we know that, 
if we must part for a time, our hearts 



112 S(JEUR E UGANIE. 

are closely united in the same faith, the 
same hope, the same love. Our Shep- 
herd measures the blast for His poor 
lambs, and will bear them in His arms 

if they sink on the road. My H , 

pray only that my unworthiness, which 
He knows to be great, may not be an 

obstacle to His grace 

''.... We have all been very much 
taken up lately by the premiere com- 

rmmion of our sweet little R ; he 

was prepared for it by the good Cure 
with the greatest affection and zeal, 
and on the 2d of October he received 
our dear Lord for the- first time. It 
was a beautiful heart-stirring cere- 
mony ; our dear R looked like a 

little angel, as he knelt with a fervor 
above his years before the altar, 



S(E UR E UGENIE, 1 1 3 

between Papa and Mamma, h. great 
many of the dear people of the village 
had given up their work to come and 
pray with us, and all the young girls 
of B 's singing-class came unin- 
vited, though it was a week-day, to 
sing hymns of joy and thanksgiving. 

'^ . . . I must close this letter. I 
do not tell you, dearest, how I love 
you, for you know it well ; pray for 
me, that I may be faithful, humble, and 
strong in the fulfilment of our Lord's 
will. I cannot exactly say when I shall 
enter the Hospital; it depends upon 
the Superieure Genh^ale, but it must 
be soon: Jesus will be our strength. 
We all send you our tenderest loves. 
** Ever your fondly loving 

Eveline.'' 

lo* H 



114 SCEUR E UGENIE, 

While full of sympathy and affection, 
the relations Eveline ' had so lately 
visited in England were still unrecon- 
ciled to the idea of her embracing a 
Religious life; and they looked forward 
with deep sorrow to the approaching 
separation from her family. Her 
uncle, a man of great piety, with 
strong Catholic instincts, had written 
to her on the subject with all the 
warmth of a generous heart, and it is 
to this circumstance that we owe one 
of the most valuable of Eveline's 
letters, in which she sets before him 
very forcibly the true meaning of a 
Religious Vocation. 

* " I am grieved to see that you are 
yet in doubt about the step I am going 

* Written in English. 



SCEUR EUGENIE, II5 

to take, and which, by the grace of 
God, has been made so clear to all' of 
us here. You must let me write to 
you on the subject freely, and from 
my heart ; not with my intelligence, — 
which is weak and incapable indeed 
of discussing with those so far supe- 
rior to me, — but with my Faith. I 
trust you will not think me presump- 
tuous in so •doing, for I own that if it 
is the will of God that it should be so, 
I ardently wish that you should at 
least understand fully the reasons I 
have for considering my vocation to a 
religious life as a call from on high. — 
One day I know you will see in all this 
the hand of God, as clearly as I do 
myself. You will forgive me, if I say 
anything which may in any way give 



Il6 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

you the least pain. You know how 
deeply grieved I should be to do so. 
I trust to our dear Lord, whom you 
fervently love and serve, to make clear 
what I can but imperfectly explain. 

"I read the paragraph in your 
friend's letter. I studied it word by 
word, and you must allow me to say, 
that, though it seemed to me interest- 
ing, clever, and well reasoned, I found 
in it no ray of supernatural light. 
Now, we all know that though our 
reason is a noble gift, there are things 
in which it is incapable of conducting 
us, and in which, after having led us to 
faith, it must give us up to its guid- 
ance. 

" Among these things is what we 
call ' religious vocation.' It is a thing 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 11/ 

that I should wish to explain to you 
clearly. 

" By ' Religious life,' I do not mean 
the life of faith, piety, and prayer, 
which all Christians are called to em- 
brace, but the total renouncement of 
everything, and entire consecration to 
the service of God. By * Vocation,' 
we mean the call, the interior, press- 
ing, irresistible call, by which God 
invites us to this life. All are not 
called to it. 

*'The dear Lord of the Vineyard 
assigns to each the place where He 
has best fitted him to work. Every 
place chosen by Him is beautiful and 
blessed. In every one. His children 
shed around them the light of His 
grace, and the warmth of His charity. 



1 1 8 SCEUR E UGENIE, 

" Many He leads to their place by 
the circumstances of their lives, and 
by the direction He gives to their 
thoughts and feelings. In the case 
of Religious vocation, the call is more 
distinct. It vibrates to the core of the 
heart: it is unmistakable, and must 
not be resisted. 

"Our dear Lord calls whom He 
wills; sometimes — as in my own case 
— the most unworthy of serving Him 
in such a life; but His will must be 
done. Thus, we believe, that the 
question is not, whether this life is the 
best, or the happiest, or the best suited 
to the person who embraces it, but 
whether the call has been made. If so, 
there is but one thing to do — that is, 
to follow it. Nature has nothing at all 



SCEUR EUGENIE, II9 

to do with this — it is conquered and 
transformed by Grace. 

"It is, true, as your friend says, that 
human, and, perhaps more especially, 
feminine nature is mutable and subject 
to variation, but the grace of our God 
can make it immutable and unvarying. 
It is likewise true that youth is the 
season of enthusiasm and abstract 
dreams; perhaps that is why our 
beloved Lord often chooses it to ask 
for the greatest sacrifices. It is also 
probable that, if we were to wait for a 
more advanced age to answer the call 
of God, we should not do so then ; 
but would it be because our judgment 
would be sounder, our reason more 
developed, — or, because that the 
slighted grace, the unused talent, 



120 SCEUR EVGENIE, 

would be withdrawn by Him who in- 
trusted us with them, that we might 
bear fruits for eternity ? 

"Thus I beheve that vocation to 
religious life is a call from God, and 
that therefore it must be followed 
without discussion. 

" It is this conviction which enables 
me, with the help of His grace, to 
leave for His dear sake everything I 
most passionately love on earth. 

"It is this which inspires my beloved 
parents not to resist my wish, and which 
strengthens my angelic sister Marie 
to join in the sacrifice which is to 
separate us, with a holy resignation 
and a beautiful abnegation of self, 
which none who have not witnessed 
can understand. Yes— it is the clpar 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 121 

conviction that we are fulfilling His 
will, which makes us find courage, 
peace, and, at times, supernatural hap- 
piness in our participation of the cup 
of bitterness, and the excess of suf- 
fering of our beloved Saviour. I may- 
say, while consenting unreservedly to 
it, that the sacrifice is great, but none 
can be too great if asked for by Him. 
*'I trust I have made you under- 
stand what I wished on this subject, 
for your last letter made me long to 
do so. I will say no more on it now. 
Two phrases from the enlightened 
soul of a man like Dr. Manning, would 
have explained all this more clearly 
than all my words have been able to 
do. 

*'I could not help answering the 
II 



122 S(EUR EUGENIE. 

lines you sent us (and which do not 
express your own feelings, I know,) 
by saying that I believe this to be a 
question of faith and grace, in which 
human reasoning (however wise) can 
see and decide nothing. Write to me 
soon, and pray for me, for no one but 
our dear Lord can know how miser- 
ably unworthy I am of the least 
crumbs of Grace which fall from His 
children's table. 

"I am ashamed to have written so 
long about myself; I trust I shall never 
do so again, and that you will forgive 
me for having counted so much on 
your affectionate indulgence 

"We are enjoying the peculiar 
charm and softening influence of these 
sweet - smelling autumn days in this 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 1 23 

blessed home of our childhood. My 
gende sister and I spend many of 
our hours in blessed and close com- 
munion of thought and feeling, read- 
ing of, or conversing on those things 
which do not pass away, and which 
daily unite our souls closer and closer 
for eternity. From her example I 
learn to be better and more hum- 
ble: . . . Oh! what a peaceful joy it is 
to think that we are all in God's hands, 
and that we have but to follow Him 
blindly in the path He has traced for 
us in His love ! " 

Some extracts from her journal will 
show how Eveline's soul was yearning 
after that service to which God had 
called her. ''Lord, hasten the day; 



124 SCEUR EUGANIE. 

hasten the day ! Oh, why have I not 
given Thee the flower of my youth ! 
Oh, come, my King ! Come and hire 
me, that I may work till the last hour 
in Thy Vineyard ! Withdraw not this 
grace from me ! I accept all the sacri- 
fices ; may a sweet balm flow out of 
them on all those I love ! '' 

"What am I, that this immense 
grace should be given to me ? What 
am I, to be called to so great an honor? 
My King invites me to His service. He 
casts His eyes on me, the last of His 
creatures. And behold, I say to him, 
'Yea, Lord, I take up my cross and 
will follow Thee, Give me Thy grace 
unto the end ! Thou hast enlightened 
my mind ; strengthen my heart, I be- 
seech Thee ! ' '' 






SCEUR EUGENIE. 12$ 

And again, "Speak, Lord, oh, speak^ 
for Thy servant heareth ! — And I saw 
the River which must be passed, in 
order to reach the Kingdom of 
Heaven, and the name of that river 
was suffering. And I saw the Boat 
which takes so many souls across the 
river, and the name of that boat was 
love!'' 

When at last the day of separation 
came, sublime in her courage and con- 
fidence, though with her loving heart 
filled with deepest emotion, Eveline 
embarked bravely on those rough 
waters, saying to herself, '' Now, my 
soul, raise the banner of the Cross, and 
march onwards on the road of sacri- 
fice, following Jesus even unto death ! " 

On quitting her home, she left for 



II* 



126 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

her loving relations these words of 
tender farewell : 

^' My Beloved Ones : 

'' Our Adorable Saviour has given us 
the greatest grace that can be granted 
to Christian hearts ; He has given us 
a share in His sufferings, in order that 
we may have a share in His glory. 
He detaches our hearts from the 
perishable and passing things of this 
world, to unite them more closely to 
Himself, by bonds that will be eternal. 

"Yes, my loved ones, we have 
suffered for Him ; no one can rob us 
of that glory ; nothing in this world 
can efface from our brows the mark 
of election, the Cross which He has 
traced there Himself; no one can take 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 12/ 

away from us the precious treasure of 
those tears which we have shed for 
love of Him ; and If we remain faith- 
ful unto the end, after this short 
pilgrimage, when the doors of the 
Heavenly Kingdom shall be opened to 
us, we shall meet again In God, never 
more to be separated. 

"When the voice of the Saviour 
made Itself heard within me — me, the 
most unworthy of us all — when He 
called me to that signal honor, to 
which He this day raises me out of 
the depth of my unworthlness, you 
might have opposed yourselves to 
Him; but with admirable faith and 
abnegation you did not do so ; you 
believed In my vocation, and you 
associated yourselves in my sacrifice. 



128 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

Our Divine Saviour will render to you 
a hundredfold what you have done 
for Him, and it is to His divine and 
compassionate Heart that I confide all 
those dear ones whom I leave in order 
that I may follow Him. He will do 
more for you than I could ever do, 
notwithstanding my intense love. It 
is He who knit us together by so deep 
and rare an affection ; He who has 
given us strength to separate for a 
time; He who, though we may be 
distant from each other, will unite our 
hearts and minds by bonds stronger 
than death, with a love the source of 
which can never dry up, since it springs 
from Him. My dearest ones, the 
grace of God is strong, but our hearts 
are weak, and there are moments when 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 1 29 

the trial seems heavy to bear, and our 
frail nature grows faint, and is ready 
to give way. But our loving Saviour 
knows this — He who ' hath borne our 
infirmities and carried our sorrows,* * 
He who wept at the tomb of Lazarus, 
who was moved by the grief of the 
widow of Nain, and who cried out in the 
Garden of Olives, for the eternal con- 
solation of those who suffer, ' My 
Father, if it be possible, let this chalice 
pass from Me ; nevertheless, not as I 
will, but as Thou wilt/ f 

'' Oh ! it is this Divine Saviour who 
will be our strength; it is His Heart 
which will be our refuge; it is His love 
which will be our joy, our light, our 
peace/' 

* Is. liii. 5. \ S. Matt. xxvi. 39. 

r 



130 SCEUR EUGANIE. 

And now the parting is over ! but 
such scenes are too sacred to be de- 
scribed. When the parents and sisters 
drove away from the Hospital whose 
door had closed upon their beloved 
one, the same word was in the hearts 
and on the lips of her who remained 
behind in the service of God's poor, 
and those who were shedding tears of 
sorrow and of emotion — tears of envy 
rather than regret, and that word was 
— Fiat. 




PART II. 



131 




CHAPTER I. 

THE POSTULANT. THE SISTER OF THE 

SEMINARY. 

** Obedience is the grave of the will.'* 

S. John Climachus. 

HT was winter time, and cold 
and dark were the mornings, 
when the four o'clock bell of the Hos- 
pice at X roused the new Postu- 
lant from the hard couch on which 
she slept more soundly than on a bed 
of down. Her luxurious home, its 
loving inmates, and her intellectual 

and artistic pursuits, were exchanged 
12 133 



134 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

for the conventual rule and simple 
community fare ; for the sick and 
aged poor, and for a daily round of 
arduous and fatiguing duties. For, 
although a special employment is as- 
signed to each Postulant, she is fre- 
quently called on to do all kinds of 
work, even the most menial offices of 
household labor. 

The Postulancy is a time of proba- 
tion — of training for exterior work — 
where Martha has more part than Mary, 
who in her turn has the largest place 
in the life which follows at the Semi- 
naire, where the young Sister is formed 
to the interior spirit of the Order. 
And it is after all this that the Sister 
of Charity goes forth prepared for 
her work, in which the labor and love 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 1 35 

of Martha and Mary are henceforth 
closely to be united. 

Eveline's first office was to assist in 
the sick wards, that she might learn 
the duties of a nurse. Her charity 
for the sick, and her zeal for their 
souls, were so great, that she who had 
never known what labor was, now 
braved all fatigue; and, whenever 
there was a question of giving bodily 
relief or spiritual consolation to any of 
the poor creatures who were stretched 
on a bed of suffering, she would spare 
neither strength nor exertion to pro- 
cure for them the smallest alleviation 
or assistance. The Sister on duty had 
advised her to begin by accompanying 
her on the rounds, and looking on, so 
as to habituate herself to all that is 



136 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

repugnant to nature in the care of the 
sick, before undertaking to fulfil the 
duties herself. Yet she would often 
surprise her at the bedside of the 
patients, arranging their hair, and 
performing many little offices which 
were not yet required of her. Eve- 
line would excuse herself by saying, 
" Ought I not to do what you are able 
to do ? If my mother or sister were 
ill, I should have no repugnance to 
doing everything for them ; when I 
entered the Community, I became the 
daughter and sister of the unfortunate, 
and I wish to fulfil the obligations 
which those titles impose upon me.'' 
Occasionally, she had to take her 
share in the night watches, and so 
great was her love of the poor in- 



S(EUR EUGENIE. \yj 

valids, that she would often steal gently 
round the sick rooms, lantern in hand, 
for the pleasure of looking at them 
as they slept ; and as she passed along, 
she would smooth the pillow of the 
restless sufferer, moisten the parched 
lips, and cool the fevered brow, saying 
a loving word of encouragement to 
one, and consolation to another, so 
that it is not wonderful that they all 
learned to love her ardently. The 
same grace and urbanity of manner 
which had given her so much charm 
in the world, now made her the idol 
of the poor, and they looked out with 
eager joy for her soft step, her gentle 
voice, and her bright-and sunny smile. 
She was always contriving how she 
could procure some little treats for 

12* 



138 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

the old women, and longing to be able 
to give them pleasure. One day, 
when her father came to see her, she 
said to him, " Oh, papa, you cannot 
think how much our old women like 
a good pinch of snuff, and their snuff- 
boxes are so small ! '* The gentle 
petition was not unheeded by the kind 
father, and next day, to her great 
satisfaction and the intense delight of 
the old people, there arrived a goodly 
provision of snuff-boxes and snuff! 

During the latter part of her Postu- 
lancy, Eveline was removed from the 
women's ward, and was placed at the 
head of the boys' class. Here she 
was more than fever in her element, 
for, as we have already seen, she was 
very fond of teaching, and had long 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 1 39 

practised it with success, and she ruled 
the boys — more than forty in num- 
ber — with a judicious mixture of 
firmness and gentleness. 

Her sister wrote of a visit to her at 
this time. '' I found her blooming and 
rosy, happier and brighter than ever ; 
she is the darling of the Community, 
she enlivens the Sisters by her sweet 
mirth, amuses them with her fun and 
jokes, and edifies them by her holi- 
ness, zeal, and humility. The morn- 
ing class was over, the boys at play, 
and their loved young mistress was 
in the kitchen, cutting up and dis- 
tributing the provisions for the day. 
She and the Sisters were laughing as 
merrily as can be over their work.* 

^ It was the time of recreation. 



I40 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

The harder and the humbler the em- 
ployment allotted to them, the happier 
they are '' 

One of the Sisters, who noticed 
how her countenance beamed with 
delight whenever any of her family 
came to visit her, asked her, one day, 
what she would do when she should 
be sent to a distance, and be unable 
any longer to see them. She remained 
thoughtful for a moment, and then 
answered, " I will make the sacrifice ; 
I feel already that God asks it of 
me:'' and, from that day, she began 
to repress the eager impulsiveness 
so natural to a loving heart like 
hers. 

Among her fellow Postulants were 
two young girls of humble birth, and 



SCEUR EUGENIE. I4I 

Eveline's humility was so deep, that, 
although greatly their superior by 
birth, education, and talents, she 
esteemed herself far beneath them, 
and was at times quite discouraged 
at the thought that she would never 
attain to their virtue. "Look,'' she 
would often say, " how humble they 
are, how q^bedient ; alas ! it is only I 
who am good for nothing in the ser- 
vice of God." And yet the testimony 
of the Sister Superior, and of the other 
Sisters who knew her, shows that she 
was the brightest example of Christian 
virtues, and that her life at the Hos- 
pital was one of charity, humility, mor- 
tification, and sacrifice. Her face was 
always radiant with joy, and those who 
saw her remarked, " How happy she 



142 S(EUR EUGENIE. 

looks ; it is plain that she is where 
God wills her to be/' 

And so it was. She was doing the 
will of God. She was uniting herself 
more and more closely to her Divine 
Saviour, seeing Him in each of the 
poor suffering creatures she was tend- 
ing, hearing Him say, " As long as you 
did it to one of these my lea^t brethren, 
you did it to Me'' (S. Matt. xxv. 40). 
It was at the foot of the Cross that she 
learnt her lessons of courage and en- 
durance ; it was in the adorable Sacra- 
ment of the Holy Eucharist that she 
found her strength and her joy ! 

At the end of four months' proba- 
tion, the Sister Superior accompanied 
Eveline and several other Postulants 
to Paris, to place them in the Mother 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 1 43 

House in the Rue du Bac, where every 
member of the Order of S. Vincent 
de Paul spends the first eight months 
of her Seminary. On the way, they 
visited the birthplace of their holy 
founder, and also the town where the 
Bishop of the diocese resided, in order 
that Eveline might receive his bless- 
ing. The venerable Bishop had quite 
a paternal affection for the whole 
family, and took the liveliest interest 
in all that concerned them. He had 
received them into the Church, con- 
firmed the sons, pronounced the nuptial 
benediction over the married daughter, 
and baptized her children ; and now it 
was with feelings of real emotion and 
hearty thanksgiving that he lifted up 
his hands to bless this chosen one, who 



144 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

was called to be the spouse of Christ, 
and to work in the vineyard of her 
Heavenly Master. 

There were no less than 500 Semi- 
nary Sisters at the Mother House when 
Eveline and her seven companions 
arrived there. At the SSminaire, as it 
is called, the young Sisters are taught 
all that is necessary for the duties they 
will afterwards have to fulfil. They 
learn chemistry, natural history, and 
the material knowledge requisite to 
make them able and skilful sick nurses ; 
and they are prepared by much prayer, 
constant instructions, and retreats, for 
the life they aspire to lead as true 
daughters of S. Vincent de Paul, who 
sought to fill them with the spirit of 
humility, obedience, charity, and sacri- 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 1 45 

fice. The life of the Seminaire is there- 
fore a period of the greatest impor- 
tance to the young Sister. It is the 
laying, as it were, of the foundation 
which supports the whole edifice, — the 
solid basement of virtue, on which are 
to be built up the works of charity. It 
is a time of retirement from outward 
distractions, of detachment from all 
that is earthly ; a time to which every 
Sister looks back in after life as having 
left a deep impress on her heart. 

Thus, in this training-school of the 
soul, where her faculties, intellectual 
and spiritual, were exercised in pene- 
trating the truths of faith, and medi- 
tating on the lessons taught by the 
example of Christ, which were to be 

her future rule of life, it may well be 
13 K 



14^ S(EUR EUGENIE. 

imagined that Eveline advanced daily 
in the way of perfection, and added 
fresh virtues to those she had already 
acquired. 

The directress of the Seminary says 
of her, that while at the Se7ni7iaire she 
was a constant subject of edification 
to them all, and she herself thanked 
God with all her heart for having 
brought her into such close relations 
with so pure and holy a soul. She 
was chiefly remarkable for her exact 
and faithful observance of the rules, 
her living faith and ardent love, her 
extreme devotion to the Blessed Sacra- 
ment, and her habitual and intimate 
union with God. 

At the same time, the following 
passages from her letters, written while 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 1 4/ 

at the Seminaire, show that there was 
no diminution of affection or interest 
towards her family. In a long letter 
she wrote to her parents soon after 
her arrival, she said: — "I assure 
you that, notwithstanding the separa- 
tion, our hearts will be always united 
in a more and more perfect union in 
the Heart of our Divine Saviour, for 
whom it is sweet to make every sacri- 
fice. It is a great happiness to me to 

feel that we all understand this 

Pray for me that I may profit by the 
great graces which are here showered 
down upon souls. The more I see 
and hear of the life of the Seminaire, 
the more I feel that I should be very 
ungrateful if I did not make much pro- 
gress, and become a good Sister of 



148 SCEUR EUGEXIE. 

Charity, a devoted servant of the suffer- 
ing members of Jesus Christ. 

'' I have already had the happiness 
of hearino- several excellent instruc- 
tions from Ma Sceitr Directrice, and 
soon the great Retreat is to begin, 
which I am awaiting with impatience. 
You ask what is my office. Je sicis 
aicx Robes, 

'' Will you, dearest mamma, say 
mille choses from me to everv one of 

the good Sisters at X . Tell ma 

Soeur Stiperietire that I thank her with 
mv whole heart for all her o^reat kind- 
ness to me, and that I shall trv never 
to forget her advice and her example, 
which made me understand what it* is 
to love God above all thlno^s " 

On the occasion of her mother's 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 1 49 

fete-day she wrote these graceful 
words : 

"I should like to offer you the 
most beautiful and most fragrant bou- 
quet that you will receive on that 
morning, my beloved mother, but I 
shall ask our Mother in Heaven to 
obtain for you, in its stead, every 
heavenly grace that you may desire 
for yourself, and for those whom you 
love better than yourself. Pray also 
for me on that glorious day, — for your 
unworthy daughter who loves you so 
t. deeply. Ask for me the love of our 
Lord; that is the one only true happi- 
ness, is it not, dearest mother? And 
here I have so many means of increas- 
ing that treasure, and I profit by them 

so little and so badly !".... 
13^ 



150 SCEUR EUGJ^NIE. 

And to her sister, on the same 
day: 

"And what can I ask of God for 
my dearest sister ? I think it will be 
safest to commit the care of your hap- 
piness to His divine paternal Heart, 
for He only knows what is best for 
each of His dear children. May then 
that Heart, ever open, ever filled with 
love, be always your refuge, your 
guide, and your stay. . . • 

" I have just been reading a delight- 
ful little book — D Abandon, a la Provi- 
dence Divine, by the Pere Caussade. 
I still feel its soothing balm in my 
heart. I thought much of you while 
reading it, for it seems to me made for 
you. It is what we have so often said 
together, only made so clear and prac- 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 15I 

tical. In substance it tells us to repose 
in the arms of that loving and paternal 
Providence, like little children on the 
bosom of their mother. Then uniting 
our will to that of God, to let our poor 
little bark float across the waves of 
this world, to the haven of the celestial 
country. It is beautiful — because it 
is true.'* ..... 

On the anniversary of their conver- 
sion she thus wrote to her mother and 
sister : 

*' I cannot let the great day of the 
1 6th July pass — a day which recalls 
to our minds so many graces given us 
by God in His great goodness — with- 
out pouring into your hearts a little 
of the overflowing of my own. We 
shall meet — shall we not, dearest? — 



TS2 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

in the Heart of our Lord, together to 
render thanks to Him for the immense 
benefit which he conferred on us, by 
illuminating our minds with the light 
of truth, and by calling us to quench 
the thirst of our souls at the source of 
His love, in the bosom of our beloved 
Catholic Church ; where, notwithstand- 
ing the trials inseparable from this 
earthly life, we have tasted a happi- 
ness of which till then we had no con- 
ception. I have thought, and still 
think much of you in Christ, during 
these days which twelve years ago 
were so full of holy emotions, of which 
the echo still resounds in our hearts. 
When I think that then for the first 
time we knew our dear Lord in the 
Holy Tabernacle, and began to taste 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 1 53 

the love which he shows us there at 
every hour, it seems to me that our 
Hfe ought to be one unceasing act of 
thanksgiving. 

''It is sweet to me to think that your 
hearts are filled with the same thoughts, 
and that we unite together to tell them 
to our God. You will do this much 
better than I can, and I unite the fee- 
ble love of my poor heart to yours, so 
that it may rise up to Him. How 
many things have passed since those 
happy days, since that Feast of Our 
Lady of Mount Carmel, when we en- 
tered forever that holy society of the 
children of God ! — things which have 
been joyful or painful according to na- 
ture, but all alike salutary for our souls. 
There is not a tear which we would 



154 SmUR EUGENIE. 

wish unshed when we consider that 
the love* of our God ordered all to 
bring us nearer to His divine Heart. 
Pray for me, that I may not be un- 
grateful for so many graces, and, above 
all, for that of my holy vocation, which 
is a favor bestowed on me entirely 
through His goodness/' 





CHAPTER II. 

THE SISTER OF CHARITY. 

" La seule charite nous met dans la perfection ; 
mais I'obeissance, la chastite et la pauvret^ sont 
les trois grands moyens pour Tacquerir : — toutes 
les trois n'ayant pour but que I'amour et le ser- 
vice de Dieu."— S. Francois de Sales. 

[N the month of November, 

1863, our young Sister was 

clothed in the Habit of the Order. 

There is no public ceremony on such 

occasions. The clothing takes place 

during a retreat which closes the life 

of the Seminaire. It is not until five 

years from the day of entry into the 

155 




156 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

SSminaire, that the probation is com- 
pleted, and that the Sister pronounces 
the Holy Vows, which are never made 
for more than a year, and are renewed 
yearly on the Feast of the Annuncia- 
tion. 

After the clothing, the young Sister, 
who then takes her name in Religion, 
is sent to work at some one of the 
houses belonging to the Order, or civil 
establishments under the charge of 
the Sisters of Charity. Every one is 
familiar with the well-known words 
which S. Vincent de Paul addressed to 
his Daughters. " Hospitals shall be 
your monasteries, the streets of the 
city, and the houses of the poor, shall 
be your cloister, hired rooms your cells, 
the parish church your chapel ; obedi- 



SCEUR EUGENIE. IS/ 

ence shall be your solitude, the fear of 
God your grating, and a strict and 
holy modesty your only veil." 

Eveline, now Soeur Eugenie, was 
filled with joy at receiving the Holy 
Habit, and shall describe her feelings 
in her own words. 

" Render thanks with and for me, for 
I write under the shadow of that dear 
beautiful Cornette which I have longed 
for so much, and which by a mystery 
of mercy and goodness, our Lord has 
deigned to bestow on me. 

" I shall not attempt to describe the 
profound gratitude with which I re- 
ceived that Holy Habit, which will be, 
till my death, the mark of the conse- 
cration of my whole being to the ser- 
vice of our beloved Saviour. Pray for 



158 S(EUR EUGENIE, 

me, that I may be an humble and docile 
instrument in God's hands, and that 
His Grace may cover my weakness 
and poverty. 

" I start in an hour for C . It is 

in that little portion of His Vineyard 
that our Lord destines me to work for 
Him. I leave the dear Seminaire with 
an humble and trustful joy, counting 
solely on God, to work in me, but at 
the same time with much grief, for I 
have found all things there. I leave a 
dear mother, whose saintly counsels 
will ever be deeply graven in my heart: 
God alone can repay her the immense 
good which she has done to me. Pray 

for her, and for Soeur B , that our 

merciful Father in Heaven may in His 
love give them every blessing. A 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 1 59 

thousand loving messages to all. Oh! 
be assured that the Cornette does not 
chill the heart, but makes one feel 
more than ever the truth of those 
words of Holy Scripture, ' God is 
Lover'' 

Soon after her arrival at C , she 

wrote to England: 

" I have often been with you all, dear 
ones, during the last year, in thought 
and in prayer, and still am so, daily. 
Never shall I forget the happy days I 

passed in your dear home at G y, 

and all the tender kindness you showed 
me, when I went to wish you adieu. 

" I know that you are all well, and I 
thank our dear Lord for it ; for though 
suffering is a precious treasure, of 
which we shall only know the full value 



l6o SCEUR eugAnie. 

in eternity, yet, when God spares us 
from it, we must be thankful. 

" I now wear the holy garb of the 
Sisters of Charity, which I have so long 
prayed for, and of which I am so un- 
worthy, and it has pleased our Heaven- 
ly Father to give me a small portion 
of His flock to care for and to love. 

" The blessed months I spent at the 
Seminaire in the Rue du Bac, have 
passed rapidly away ; but not so the 
holy lessons I received there, and the 
beautiful examples of charity and 
piety I witnessed in the gentle Sisters 
with whom I lived in blessed commu- 
nion. 

" Here I have found new blessings 
and the supreme happiness of serving 
our dear Master's poor, in whom we 



S(EUR EUGENIE, l6l 

Strive to see our beloved Saviour Him- 
self. Our chief occupation is among 
the little children, that chosen portion 
of His flock. We have nearly 400 of 
them, from two years of age till twelve 
or thirteen. Some live in the house, 
others come daily for food and instruc- 
tion. They learn reading, writing, 
arithmetic, geography, and a little his- 
tory, and above all, the word of God, 
and that knowledge which alone bears 
fruit for eternity. 

" One of the Sisters teaches them to 
sing, and on Sundays they sing the 
Vespers' Psalms and Hymns with the 
organ, which is the treasure of our 
litde chapel '' 

The large establishment at C , 

to which Soeur Eugenie was sent, was 

14^ L 



1 62 SCE UR E UGENIE. 

not a hospital, but what is called in 
France ''La Misericorde',' where poor 
children and orphans are educated, and 
where clothes, remedies, etc., are dis- 
tributed to the poor and the sick. The 
Sisters visit these last in their own 
houses. In the spring of the year 
1864, on the occasion of the first visit 
of her family to Soeur Eugenie, her 
sister Marie wrote so graphic a descrip- 
tion of this new home to her uncle in 
England, that it cannot fail to interest 
the reader. It was written on the 
Feast of the Ascension. 

"^ " . . . . This morning I awoke 
early with my heart very full, as you 
may guess. The sky was cloudless, 
the sun streaming in at every window, 

■^ Written in English. 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 163 

and the bells of all the churches peal- 
ing In commemoration of our Lord's 
return to Heaven. I wrote to ask 
when we might go to see our darling. 
The answer was ' after One' as much 
as we pleased. So we tried to be 
patient, and went to Mass at the Ca- 
thedral, a large church, but nothing re- 
markable or interesting about it 

I cannot attempt to give you the faint- 
est idea of our emotion on seeing our 
blessed Eveline, in her beautiful and 
holy dress, after so many months of 
separation. You must picture to your- 
self the scene of our meeting, our fond 
embraces, and the many tears we shed 
on both sides. I cannot either give 
you an idea of the radiant beauty, 
health, happiness, and holiness of our 



164 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

loved one. It is a beautiful sight to wit- 
ness, and one to be deeply thankful for. 
''She is no longer the timid Postulant 

of X , nor the somewhat mystic 

Sister of the Seminary at Paris, but 
the Sister of Charity in all her perfect 
and full growth. Strong, active, firm, 
ardent, full of imagination and poetry, 
as she always was, modest, humble, 
gentle, and full of exquisite sensibility. 
Her intelligence, her knowledge, and 
experience of men and things, have 
increased wonderfully. Large-minded, 
liberal, and tolerant beyond any one 1 
have ever met with, she comprehends 
all things with perfect tact and judg- 
ment, and it is impossible to imagine 
a creature more richly endowed and 
gifted in every way. With all that, 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 1 65 

supremely simple, the merriest of the"" 
merry, and deliciously funny and witty. 
She is the favorite of the whole Sister- 
hood 

''La Misericorde is a large build- 
ing with a shady court and a delicious 
garden. One side is occupied by a 
lovely chapel, with stained-glass win- 
dows. The house is admirably arranged, 
and surpasses in order, cleanliness, and 
ingenious devices, any of the kind I 
have ever seen. 

" The assistance for the poor is or- 
ganized on a very large scale ; nothing 
is wanting. There is even a little farm- 
yard, with plenty of poultry and a cow. 

"The classes are in another build- 
ing, across a shady court, where the 
children play. Eveline's class-room is 



1 66 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

charming, full of light, and air, and 
sun. Opposite her pulpit there is a 
white statue of our Blessed Lady 
among tall lilies ; on either side fine 
portraits of S. Louis de Gonzague and 
S. Stanislas Kostka. 

'' The children are forty in number, 
nice, clean, and well dressed, all doting 
on Soeur Eugenie, as you may suppose. 

" There is an ' Orphelinat ' attached 
to the establishment, and an * Asile! 
Each Sister has her separate duties. 
And now I am come to the garden, 
which is exquisite — so quaint and un- 
conventional. Such delicious nooks 
and corners, such sweet lonely bits ! 
Shady alleys and sunny alleys, bordered 
with roses — dark bowers — the very 
perfection of all that is cool, and re- 



S(EUR EUGENIE, 1 6/ 

tired, and pleasant ; flowers every- 
where, perfuming the air. The green- 
house is fine and large, and there is a 
charming ^ Bassin ' full of fish, and 
surrounded with plants, just before the 
house. Such peace and happiness 
breathing through it all ! 

''We spent a never-to-be-forgotten 
afternoon there, talking of every thing 
and every one with our loved one. I 
cannot say enough of the Superieure, 
who is kindness itself, and gave us full 
permission to see Eveline as much as 
we liked. She is a most charming and 
distinguished person. Indeed all the 
Sisters, most of them very young, are 
particularly gentle and kind, and the 
reception they have given us has 
touched us deeply. 



1 68 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

" We went to Vespers all together, 
in the beautiful Church of S. Vincent, 
where the stained-glass windows of 
the chancel are most remarkable and 
very ancient The service was very 
fine and impressive. Sweet Eveline 
knelt at the head of her flock, in a 
tribune on one side, looking like a 
lovely young saint. We left her at 
four o'clock, to return to her directly 
after dinner, and we spent a delicious 
evening with her in their garden. It 
was a glorious star-lit night, and the 
sweetest of nightingales was singing 
over our heads. This dear little bird 
is a particular pet of the Sisters : he is 
so fond of them, that he follows them 
everywhere, warbling under their 
windows at four o'clock in the morn- 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 1 69 

ing to awake them, and delighting 
them with his beautiful strains before 
they go to bed. They told us that last 
summer another came, and raised his 
voice firmly, grandly, as in defiance ; 
but the other got the upperhand, and 
the poor little stranger burst his little 
throat and died ! They also have some 
swallows who have built their nests 
quite close to the chapel. Does not 
all that remind one of S. Francis of 
Assisi, who was so beloved by every 
living thing in God's creation ? 

"Suddenly, in the midst of the silence 
of the garden, we were startled and 
enchanted by the sound of young, pure, 
and beautiful voices, singing a hymn 
to the Blessed Virgin. It was the even- 

ing prayer of the Orphans. 
?5 



170 S(EUR EUGENIE. 

" Immediately after, a bell sounded 
in the distance. The Sisters all rose, 
and after wishing us good night, bent 
their steps to the chapel for their 
evening devotions. 

" May 6. To-day (Friday) we spent 
part of the morning in the Garden of 
the Misericorde, working and chatting 
with our beloved one and the good 
Sisters till their recreation was over. 
Then, at four o'clock, the Stcpeidettre 
and Eveline came to fetch us at the 
hotel, and we had a most delightful 
walk. They took us to the olcj town, 
called La Cite. It is a wonderful place, 
and worthy of a pilgrimage in itself. 

" The citadel and old castle flanked 
by massive towers, and surrounded by 
gigantic ramparts, are curious and in- 



SCEUR EUGENIE, \%1 

teresting beyond words. They are 
black and hoary with age, and look 
down menacingly on the plain below, 
as they used to do centuries back, when 
they sustained numberless sieges and 
assaults. We saw the tower where 
Roger Vicomte de Beziers was poi- 
soned, and the oubliettes and prison 
where the wretched prisoners were 
put to death in those dark times. The 
view from the ramparts is fine. The 
Pyrenees are seen on one side, and the 
Cevennes on the other. But the gem 
of the place is the Church of S. Na- 
zaire. Such a bit of Gothic architec- 
ture in the best style ! Such wonder- 
ful old statues and sculptures, and 
above all, such stained windows! They 
are marvellously beautiful. One of 



\*J2 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

the very oldest and finest, behind the 
high altar, represents the complete 
history of the Old and New Testa- 
ment, beginning with Adam and Eve 
in the Garden of Eden, and ending 
with our blessed Lord on the Cross. 

"Your name was on all our lips 
yesterday. At every picturesque corner 
and fountain and statue we exclaimed, 

' Oh, if T and H were but 

here, what a drawing they would make 
of this — or that!''' ..... 

This visit, as well as succeeding ones, 
which her family paid to Soeur Euge- 
nie, were like bright dreams, ever 
leaving their hearts full of gratitude 
and consolation at the sight of the 
happiness and usefulness of their 
" little saint," as they loved to call her. 



SCEUR EUGENIE. I73 

The remembrance of those happy- 
moments will never fade away. 

Each time they saw her, she seemed 
to them more radiant, more affection- 
ate, more holy. And other friends, 
who visited her, speak of her as being 
enriched with new graces, — so jubilant 
and yet so calm — "quite at home in 
the service of her Divine Master.'' 
She was fast ripening for heaven, and 
the rest of her short life on earth was 
spent in the constant exercise of every 
virtue. 

It must not be suppos-ed from her 

sister's glowing account of the Miseri- 

corde, that the life of the Filles de la 

Charite is one of constant sunshine 

and repose. From four o'clock in the 

morning till nine in the evening they 
15^ 



1/4 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

are unceasingly employed in the duties 
of their respective offices and their 
own devotional exercises, which last, 
as well as their times of recreation, are 
liable to interruption, or even have to 
be sacrificed in grave cases of neces- 
sity. In the true spirit of self-devotion, 
their joy and pleasure consist in giving 
their whole time and strength to the 
service of the poor. 

After many months of hard work — 
for, in addition to the children, Soeur 
Eugenie had also a daily extra class 
for young girls — she was sent for a 
short autumn holiday to a house be- 
longing to the Order, in a beautiful 
and sequestered spot, situated in the 
heart of the mountains. The pic- 
turesque village is crowned by a fine 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 1/5 

old feudal casrie, which in past ages 
had boasted of no less than seventeen 
machicolated towers. Many a dark 
tragedy had been enacted within its 
walls, now falling into ruins, and the 
seigneurial family whose name it bore 
has long since been extinct. 

The house occupied by the Sisters 
had once belonged to a noble and 
saintly lady, who had been the provi- 
deuce of the little village. She had on 
her death-bed bequeathed her house, 
and all that belonged to her, to the 
daughters of S. Vincent de Paul, 
and there these humble and devoted 
women fulfil their mission with their 
usual zeal and abnegation. In the vast 
and spacious rooms, in the faded and 
antiquated but still handsome furni- 



176 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

ture, and pictures blackened with age, 
there are yet traces of a grandeur that 
has passed away, and now the only 
treasure in that ancient and lonely 
habitation is the simple unadorned 
chapel, where our Lord dwells in the 
midst of His poor and faithful fol- 
lowers. 

Thus His work of mercy and the 
intention of S. Vincent are carried on 
and accomplished in all places alike, 
in the remote and quiet village as well 
as in the thickly populated town. 

Not long after Soeur Eugenie's re- 
turn to C , the Sister Superior, 

who Watched over her spiritual daugh- 
ters with the tenderness of a mother, 
changed her office to that of visiting 
the sick poor, that she might have 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 1 77 

more air and exercise, and also rest 
for her chest, which was much fatigued 
by teaching. It was a great misfor- 
tune for the children to lose their 
young mistress, to whom they were 
much attached, and as she sought 
above all to instil the love of God 
into their hearts, her teaching had the 
happiest influence on her scholars. 

In her humility she thought herself 
quite unworthy of being employed in 
so important a post as the new one 
assigned to her; but she was never 
discouraged, and placing all her confi- 
dence in God, said " He would make 
all right ! '' She set herself to her 
new work with her wonted zeal and 
ardor, and soon the poor began to love 
and venerate her as a mother. She 

M 



178 S(EUR EUGENIE. 

labored with untiring energy through 
the winter, and witnessed much heart- 
rending misery, and what was still 
more painful, much wickedness and 
sin. The spring of 1865 was, it will 
be remembered, one of unusual sever- 
ity, but she never thought of herself; 
there were souls to be saved, and suf- 
ferings to be relieved, and wherever 
she heard of sickness and want she 
was sure to be found, toiling up five 
or six stories to some miserable garret, 
or diving into the damp alleys and 
courts which abound in the ''Cite,'' 
heedless of the blinding snow and 
pelting rain, and quite unmindful of 
the cruel cold, from which she suffered 
severely. And when she came home 
benumbed with cold, drenched to the 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 1/9 

skin, and quite worn out with fatigue, 
she was ready to go to her other du- 
ties as cheerfully as possible, and it 
was only in obedience to her Supe- 
rior that she ever warmed herself or 
changed her wet clothing. Her zeal 
certainly somewhat transgressed the 
bounds of prudence, but she was filled 
with the spirit of S. Vincent, who said, 
" Spare not your bodies in serving 
God in His poor members/' The 
good she did was immense, but she 
overtasked her strength, and a cold 
caught by such constant exposure to 
bad weather, brought on alarming 
symptoms, which increased so much 
in the autumn, that she became seri- 
ously ill. She was obliged to give up 
her office of visiting the poor, and 



l8o SCEUR EUGENIE. 

was for a time quite incapable of any 
exertion. 

About Easter time in that year, one 
of the Sisters, who had been Soeur 
Eugenie's companion at the Seminaire, 
and had taken the Habit at the same 
time, was removed from them by death, 
which she met with edifying courage 
and perfect serenity, looking on it as 
the commencement of true life in the 
heavenly country. Several of Sceur 
Eugenie's letters contain beautiful and 
interesting details of her illness and 
death. 

"You ask me,'' she wrote to her 
sister, " about our dear Soeur Emilie ; 
she gets worse and worse, and is long- 
ing ardently for heaven. Our Lord is 
purifying her in much love ; her physi- 



scEUR eugAnie. i8i 

cal sufferings are great and unceasing, 
but her soul is peaceful and happy. 
They are going to grant her an im- 
mense grace ! She is just twenty, and 
after a year of novitiate, she is to 
attain the object of all our earthly 
desires, our impatient expectations, 
and our daily prayers. She is to pro- 
nounce the holy vows on Monday 
next! Oh, dearest sister, just fancy 
how great will be her happiness! Her 
bed of suffering will be changed into 
a heaven of joy and peace — words 
fail to express what it will be for her. 
Well might she say to me this evening, 
with a heavenly smile, 'Oh, if our dear 
Lord would only take me on that day, 
how happy I should be.' Often when 
the doctor tries to give her some hope, 

i6 



1 82 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

she says, ' Oh, do not tell me that ; I 
do not wish to get well/ 

" Once, after an attack of violent 
suffering, which lasted sixteen hours, 
she asked me, ' Did I murmur last 
night? Tell me quite truly, for I 
suffered so much that I did not know 
what I said/ When we assured her 
that she had uttered no word of com- 
plaint, she seemed quite happy. Oh, 
how beautiful it is to see in such truly 
Christian endurance what is the power 
of grace, and of the love of our God ! '' 

Shortly afterwards she wrote: "Our 
dear Sceur Emilie is always in the same 
^tate of suffering, daily laying up more 
treasure in heaven. She had the great 
happiness of making her vows, and on 
that solemn day a heavenly joy seemed 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 1 83 

to banish all suffering, and a celestial 
radiance shone upon her angelic coun- 
tenance. An altar, covered with lilies, 
was placed near her bed, and the 
Blessed Virgin (the statue you gave 
me) seemed to point to the Cross, and 
to promise soon to receive her into 
her arms for eternity. She had hoped 
to die on that great day, but it is our 
Lord's will to prolong her exile yet a 
little while. Some days after, she re- 
ceived Extreme Unction with the most 
perfect calmness ; we all knelt around 
her bed. I shall never forget the 
movement, so full of fervor and 
abandonment, with which she stretched 
out her hands to receive the holy oils. 
I could not help repeating to myself 
those words of St. Paul, ' O Death, 



1 84 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

where is thy sting ? Death is swallowed 
up in victory/ " 

The account of the death of Sceur 
Emilie is given in a subsequent letter : 

^^ Easter Monday, 1865. 
"She left us to go home on the 
Feast of S. Thomas of Aquin. Like 
that great Doctor, she had learnt the 
science of the saints, and like him 
when our Lord asked him, ' Thou hast 
spoken well of Me, Thomas ; what 
reward wilt thou have ? ' she would 
have answered, 'Thee only, O Lord!' 
The week which preceded her death 
was one long and terrible physical 
agony, but her peace and calm of mind 
were never for a moment disturbed. 
On the morning of the last day she 



SCEUR EUGJ^NIE, 1 85 

had a moment of ease, and she received 
the Holy Communion with the greatest 
serenity. She spoke to us all after- 
wards with the sweetest smile. She 
thanked our dear Superior, who has 
really been like her own mother, for 
all the care she had taken of her ; and 
when one of us said to her, ' You are 
very suffering, Soeur Emilie,' she an- 
swered, ' Yes, Sister ; but the more we 
suffer on earth, the more shall we enjoy 
heaven.' She kissed with fervent love 
the image of our Crucified Saviour, 
and till the last moment held in her 
hand a lighted candle, emblem of the 
love she had always borne Him. Our 
Lord spared her the violent crise we 
had dreaded for her, and the end was 

calm. Our chaplain, who had attended 

16* 



1 86 S(EUR EUGENIE. 

to her during all her illness with un- 
ceasing kindness, once more applied 
the Blood of Jesus to her soul, by a 
last absolution. Her eyes were turned 
towards heaven, she slightly raised 
both her hands, and looking like a 
dove about to take wing, she ceased to 
breathe, to struggle, and to suffer. 
My soul strove to follow her, but the 
gate of heaven, open for a moment, 
was closed again at once, and we are 
left still in exile ! 

" We clothed her in the holy Habit 
she had worn with so much respect 
and love, and in the midst of the 
lighted candles on the little altar by 
her bed, we placed two camelias, one 
white and one red, emblems of inno- 
cence and love. The next day we 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 1 87 

accompanied her chaste remains to 
their resting-place, where they await the 
day of Resurrection. Her bier was 
covered with Hhes, and her Rosary lay 
on it, under a white wreath. 

''Forgetting our earthly regrets, we 
rejoiced in her happiness, and returned 
to our work to wait till the blessed 
day of deliverance should come also 
for us '' 

• •••••• 

Indefatigable in her labors of love, 
and entering heart and soul into all 
the arduous duties of her position, 
Soeur Eugenie still took a keen inter- 
est, not only in all that related to her 
family, but also in the joys and sorrows 
and spiritual welfare of those she had 
known and associated with during her 



1 88 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

life in the world. This is evident from 
some beautiful letters which have been 
preserved. One is addressed to the 
friend already mentioned as being 
"High Church," but who, together 
with her mother, had been led by- 
God's grace into the true fold of the 
Catholic Church. 

^^J. M. J. Whit'Monday, 1865. 

" My Dearest A : 

'' It is with the deepest thankfulness 
and joy that I share in the emotions 
which fill your heart and that of your 
dear mother. 

'* Yes, my dear sister in Jesus Christ, 
I congratulate you on having found 
the pearl of great price, the ineffable 
treasure of truth and light, for which 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 1 89 

your soul has been sighing so long. 
May God be praised a thousand times 
for this immense grace. 

"I have myself experienced this 
thirst for truth, and this presentiment 
of a fuller light, which cause the soul 
to find no rest till it has attained them. 
Therefore I have — though far from 
you — followed you step by step for 
some time past ; my heart has accom- 
panied you, with ardent and daily 
prayers, in all your struggles. I have 
felt the contre-coup of your sufferings, 
even to the very depth of my soul. 
Although I had too great experience 
of the all-powerful love of our Lord 
to allow me to doubt for a moment of 
the happy issue of this painful combat, 
I felt an inexpressible happiness on 



190 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

hearing that He had triumphed, and 
that you were for ever in peace and 
safety in the bosom of the Holy Cath- 
oHc Church, our beloved Mother. 

" Oh, with what ardent effusion I 
threw myself at the feet of our Lord 
in the Tabernacle, to thank Him, and 
to greet you both, and make you wel- 
come in His presence as my dear 
sisters in Him ! 

" I saw the treasures which you were 
to possess — that you already possess 
— the new path and the broad horizon 
opening out before you, even to the 
shores of eternity, and all the little 
things of this transitory life seemed to 
me more miserable and despicable 
than ever. I rejoice with you then, 
because you have the one thing need- 



SCEUR EUGENIE. I9I 

ful, because you possess the Holy 
Eucharist — the blessing which sur- 
passes every other blessing, and be- 
yond which the soul can desire nothing 
but heaven itself. 

" Certainly, my dear A , the life 

of a Christian does not pass without 
warfare — strife and suffering are the 
daily lot of the soul exiled on this 
earth ; they are the thorns and briers 
which are produced so abundantly in 
this desert, which separates us from 
our heavenly country. But for the 
Catholic who possesses the Holy Eu- 
charist — who knows the secret of 
the Tabernacle — these sufferings and 
these struggles lose their bitterness ; 
in the love of God he draws strength 
to bear them — what do I say ? — to 



1 92 SiXCR EUGEXIE, 

love them, to desire them, as a means 
of showmo: his orratitude for his Sa- 
viour's incomprehensible bounty. 

'' It is not for me — His poor weak 
useless servant — to speak of these 
divine thino-s, but I cannot contain the 
expression of thankfulness with which 
my heart overflows. 

'' On the Feast of Pentecost I felt 
intimately united to you in the unity 
of the Holy Catholic Church, on which 
the Holy Spirit poured out the abun- 
dance of His gifts. It seemed to me 
as if I met you, and gave you the kiss 
of peace. 

'' And now let me beg you to pray 
for me, to thank the Divine Saviour 
for His orreat orrace in raisinor me out 
of my miser)^ to the dignit>^ of His 



SCEUR EUGENIE, I93 

service. Pray also for our little chil- 
dren, our poor, our orphans, and also 
for our dear Sisters, that our Lord 
may give us the necessary grace to do 
good. 

" May our dear Lord and His be- 
loved Mother, whom He gave us on 
the Cross to be our Mother, bless you 
more and more. 

''A Dieu Seul, my dearest A . 

Let us despise all that passeth away ; 
let us live to love God, and to make 
Him to be loved. 

" I embrace you and your dear 
mother with all the warmth of my 
heart, which is devoted to you in His 
holy love. 

''ScEUR Eugenie, 

^^FilledelaCharite/' 

17 N 



194 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

The following was written about the 
same time to a child, with whom she 
was nearly connected, who was about 
to make her First Communion : 



^ 'Misericorde de C- 



*'My very Dear Little M : 

" My heart is so full of you on the 
approach of the great day of your 
First Communion, that it is impossible 
not to express to you something of 
what I feel. If one were allowed to have 
any other desire than to do God's will, 
my greatest wish at this moment, my 
dear child, would be to kneel by your 
side at the Holy Table on the glorious 
day of the Ascension of our Lord. 

'' But, although separated by hun- 
dreds of miles, we shall be together — 



S(EUR EUGENIE, I95 

shall we not, in the Heart of that God 
of Love ? You will pray for me, that 
I may correspond to the inestimable 
grace He vouchsafed me in calling 
me to His service, and I — notwith- 
standing my unworthiness — will throw 
myself at His feet to beseech Him to 
take such entire possession of your 
heart on that day, that nothing may 
ever draw it away from Him for a 
single instant. You understand al- 
ready, my dear child, that happiness — 
the need of which God has implanted 
in every heart — can be found only in 
Him. You will understand it far bet- 
ter when you shall have received our 
Lord into your heart. What a treas- 
ure ! What a friend, the sweet Jesus, 
our beloved Lord ! If we knew that 



196 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

He were in some far distant spot at 
the other end of the world, we should 
fly to prostrate ourselves at His feet, 
we should esteem ourselves too happy 
to have one glance from His eyes, to 
hear one word from His Divine lips. 
And behold in His immense love, far 
surpassing all we could have dared to 
hope, He comes to us, and penetrates 
even to the depth of our souls, to 
belong to us entirely for all eternity ! 

" What can I say to you, my little 

M ? /, who have everything to 

learn — after all you have heard in 
those admirable instructions which 
God in His grace provided for you ! 
And yet I want to suggest to you one 
thought which was deeply inculcated 



SCEUR EUGENIE, I97 

on me. It is this : during your whole 
life to see in our Lord only a God of 
Love, a Father, a Friend, — to fear 
Him only because you love Him, — to 
confide in Him without reserve, — to 
speak to Him as you would speak to 
your father in every circumstance of 
your life. It is thus that we learn to 
know Him as He is, and when we 
know Him we love Him, and in com- 
parison with Him all that this world 
esteems seems but as dross, and we 
possess within our hearts a source of 
peace which nothing can disturb. . . . 

" I send you, my dear little M , 

a reliquary which belonged to our 
dear Soeur Emilie. You have heard 
my sister Marie speak of her, and I 

think that you will value it 

17^ 



198 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

^^ Au revoir, my sweet child; may 
the blessing of God be with you 
always ; that is what I shall ask for you 
from our beloved Mother in Heaven. . 

" . . . . Accept, my dearest child, 
the warm wishes and deep love in 
Jesus Christ, of your affectionate and 
unworthy Sceur Eugenie, 

" Fille de la Charite/' 

A year passed away, and Soeur 
Eugenie had gradually recovered her 
strength. She had got through the 
winter without any return of the illness, 
which she had borne with the most 
beautiful resignation and entire sub- 
mission to God's will — ready to accept 
whatever He might send with cheerful 
indifference. To all appearances she 



S(EUR EUGENIE. 1 99 

was restored to her usual health, and 
she was now in charge of the Orphans. 
If possible, her zeal and her devoted- 
ness were greater than before ; nothing 
could exceed the tender care and 
motherly solicitude with which she 
watched over these little ones. 

"I cannot tell you,'' she wrote, "how 
much we love these dear children 
which our Divine Master has committed 
to our care. Ready to leave them if 
our heavenly Father calls us elsewhere, 
our whole being belongs to them while 
He wills that we should be in the midst 
of them, and our most ardent desire 
is to win all their souls, to offer them 
to jesus. Pray for us that we may 
acquit ourselves of this responsible 
mission like faithful shepherds, so that 



2CX) SCEUR EUGEXIE, 

not one of these little lambs may be 
lost or even leave one flock of its 
white fleece on the thorns which grow 
bv the wavside. Oh I rather that we 
ourselves should be wounded in their 
defence. Ask for us the spirit of sacri- 
fice, renunciation,, and faithful imitation 
of our Divine Model." 

She often shed tears, when the chil- 
dren's conduct was not such as she 
would have desired, fearino: lest their 
faults mio-ht have been caused bv some 
negligence on her part. Whenever 
they committed any serious faults, she 
would assemble them together, and 
biddinof them kneel down, she herself 
made an act of contrition, which always 
drew tears from their eyes. And on 
the approach of the stated times for 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 201 

First Communions her zeal was re- 
doubled, and she labored without inter- 
mission to prepare their souls worthily 
for the visit of their Heavenly King. 
Prayers, mortifications, instructions — 
nothing wa's spared to obtain for them 
that grace. 

The last time that she was engaged 
in this work of preparation, the Sister 
Superior, seeing that she was suffering, 
expressed a fear that she was over- 
fatiguing herself '' Oh ! no — no. Sister,'' 
she answered, notwithstanding her 
perfect obedience, " I can take no rest 
till after the First Communion is over ; 
only think if the children should not 
be thoroughly well prepared, because 
I had omitted the smallest duty toward 
them ! " 



202 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

Writing one day to one of the girls 
who had left the Orphanage, she said, 
'' If you wish to be great in the eyes 
of God, make yourself very little. 
Live united to God, seek Him only, 
work only for Him, think of pleasing 
Him only, and everything else will be 
added to you. Above all, make the 
Adorable Communion your most pre- 
cious treasure, and the support and 
sustenance of your whole life.'' 

She tried on all occasions to raise 
the thoughts of the children to 
heavenly things, and to excite them 
to do all things, even their smallest 
actions, to the glory of God. " When 
you go up stairs,'' she would sometimes 
say to them, " pray that you may ascend 
each day from virtue to virtue ; and 



S(EUR EUGENIE, 203 

when you go down stairs, think how 
you ought to humble yourself before 
God/' 

A little anecdote of her orphans is 
thus related by Soeur Eugenie : 

" We had a great treat in the visit 
of a holy missionary, who had been 
working for many years among the 
Indian tribes of Oregon. We were 
much impressed by his simplicity, his 
apostolic charity, and his fervent zeal 
for bringing souls to God. There was a 
great charm in his conversation. He 
speaks English, Spanish, and Indian 
with equal fluency. He related to us 
very striking anecdotes of his chers 
Indiens, whose fierce and passionate 
natures, when cultivated and made 
fruitful by Christianity, become capable 



204 SCEUR EUGANIE. 

of heroic virtue. Their gratitude is 
intense, and full of delicacy, and the 
purity of their morals might put civil- 
ized people to the blush. I was very 
much touched and pleased with the 
conduct of our little orphans, who were 
so moved by the beautiful recitals of 
the missionary that they spontaneously 
made the sacrifice of all their medals 
and prettiest holy pictures (a real 
treasure to them), and, collecting them 
together, offered them to him for the 
poor Indians." 

She loved to unite the children's 
prayers to her own, for those who 
were dear to her, and who were in 
sorrow, as will be seen from a letter to 
a relation, who was in deep affliction 
at the loss of a child. 



" My Dear 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 20$ 

''July, 1867. 



" The grace of our Lord be with us 
for ever ! 

" I heard with deep grief of the great 
trial which our Divine Master has sent 
to you. This heavy and unexpected 
blow, while it grieved, did not surprise 
me; for I have seen for some time 
past that the bread which nourishes 
the elect in this land of exile, is a 
bread mixed with tears, and that our 
Saviour still says to those who ask for 
a place near to His Heart, and high in 
His love, ' Can you drink of the chalice 
that I drink of? or be baptized with 
the baptism wherewith I am bap- 
tized ? ' * 

* S. Mark X. 38. 
18 



206 SOEUR EUGENIE. 

" Happy, then, oh ! thrice happy are 
those ^who after having come out of 
great tribulation, and having washed 
their robes and made them white in 
the blood of the Lamb,' * take flight 
on the wings of faith and love to the 
shores of the Heavenly Country. And 
for us, pilgrims and combatants, oh ! 
do not let us lose courage, if it should 
sometimes seem as if we must fall 
under the heat and burden of the 
day. Oh! it is then that our Adorable 
Saviour is nearest to us. It is then 
that His All-powerful arm is about to 
raise us higher in His holy love ! 

" And what can I do for you in this 
moment of grief? I have no other 
help but to join the innocent little 

* Apoc. vii. 14. 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 20/ 

hands of the dear children to whom 
my Hfe is devoted, and tell them to 
obtain for you from heaven, strength 
and consolation. I will do this, I pro- 
mise you, and thus I shall find that 
which will make up for my misery and 
my weakness. 

''A Dieu, and courage! Soon we 
shall breathe the perfumes of the 
Eternal Hills, and our eyes, worn out 
by tears, shall be refreshed by the 
glorious vision of the goodness of our 
God. We shall there forget the wea- 
riness and dust of the way, and the 
storms which bowed our heads to the 
ground, only that we might raise them 
up afterwards with more confidence 
to heaven.'' .... 

While we dwell on the active exte- 



208 SGEUR EUGENIE, 

rior life of charity and sacrifice that 
Soeur Eugenie was leading, the still 
more beautiful interior Y\i^ and spiritual 
progress of this pure and holy Sister 
must not be lost sight of. And yet, 
alas ! only a few glimpses can be ob- 
tained of that life "hidden with Christ 
in God/* — of that work of super- 
natural grace which was fast sanctify- 
ing her soul, and preparing it for its 
eternal abode in the Heavenly City. 

It would seem as if she had already 
some foreboding that her earthly pil- 
grimage would ere long be at an end, 
for nearly all the letters written after 
her first illness contain allusions to the 
fleeting nature of all that belongs to 
this life, and show how her soul was 
yearning after the Heavenly Country, 



SmUR EUGJ^NIE, 209 

^'La Patrie'' as she usually called it. 
"Let us live in God, and for God/' 
she wrote, "and we shall be reunited 
in the heavenly country ; for life passes 
away like a light vapor which loses 
itself in the summer sky, and our pil- 
grimage will not last long. Soon we 
shall be in the House of our Father, 
and our hearts, which hunger and thirst 
for Him, shall be filled and satisfied 
with His goodness and His love/' 

And after a Retreat, she says, "I 
came back more penetrated than ever 
with a sense of the nothingness of 
all things which pass away ; and it 
seemed to me that the joys and sor- 
rows of life had, during that time, 
become so insignificant in my eyes, 

that they were no longer capable of 
18* o 



2IO SCEUR EUGENIE, 

disturbing for an instant a heart cre- 
ated entirely for eternal things. Nature 
does not always accept this truth. It 
revolts against suffering {elle rejimbe 
contre raiguillon de la doulewr)^ but 
we * can do all things in Him who 
strengtheneth us/f and this thought 
makes us victorious over our weak- 
ness — does it not, my dear sister? 
We have had admirable instructions, 
simple and eloquent like the Gospel, 
and quite inspired with the love of 
God. Indeed, is not that the most 
powerful — nay, rather the sole motive 
of every noble and generous action, 
of all sacrifice, the secret of that 
strength and that devouement which 

* " Kicks against the goad/* Acts ix. 6. 
f Phil. iv. 13. 



S(E UR E UGENIE. 2 1 1 

are so contrary to our poor weak 

nature ? '' 

• ••••■ 

In a striking letter which Soeur Eu- 
genie wrote at this time to a near and 
dear relation, whose faith was some- 
what shaken by contact with the pre- 
vailing spirit of infidelity, after speak- 
ing of those generous hearts and fine 
intelligences who suffer cruelly from 
the unsatisfying and perishable nature 
of all that is not true and eternal, she 
goes on to say : " I long to impress 
upon them what makes my happiness 
and peace. It is in God only that can 
be found that felicity, that strength, 
that ascendancy over the miseries of 
life, which every one seeks after here 
below. When I say in God, I mean 



212 SmUR EUGENIE. 

in union with God by prayer and the 
Sacraments, and for this we must 
know God as He is — great, supremely 
good, inexpressibly merciful, tender as 
a father — infinitely wise — and there- 
fore knowing all the wants, tempta- 
tions, difficulties, and trials that every 
one of His children meets with, ac- 
cording to their characters and posi- 
tions — in short, the God of S. Augus- 
tine and S. Thomas of Aquin/' 

This union with God by prayer and 
the Sacraments was in fact the key- 
note of her spiritual life. She was 
constant and fervent in prayer ; it was 
her resource in every difficulty, her 
consolation in every trial. The Holy 
Eucharist was her *'all in all.'* To 
use the words of the Pere de Ravignan, 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 213 

she felt that " it was the beginning and 
the end, the centre and object of all 
Catholic devotion, the sustenance and 
life of the soul, the symbol of the 
Church's unity, the bond of union and 
charity between the faithful, the pledge 
of glory and eternal happiness — which 
will be the consummation of the life 
of grace on earth, and the union with 
Christ, which is cemented by our par- 
ticipation in His Body and Blood — 
so well named Communion/' 

God thus communicated Himself to 
her soul, filling it with His presence, 
purifying, elevating, and perfecting all 
her natural gifts. Her intelligence 
developed itself in a remarkable de- 
gree ; in depth of thought, and the 
power of expressing it, she quite out- 



214 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

Stripped even the brightest promises 
of her early years ; her conversation 
became quite briUiant and eloquent, 
especially when it related to heavenly 
things, and her natural ideality of 
feeling and poetic imagination, which 
were now more spiritualized, invested 
her with an indescribable charm. 

Alone unconscious of her merits, she 
became each day more lowly in her 
own eyes ; and, absorbed in the fulness 
of God, she was penetrated with a 
sense of her own nothingness and 
unworthiness. More than ever did 
she deserve her old name of " Violet," 
for she shed around her the perfume 
of holiness and virtue, while, like that 
sweet flower, she concealed herself 
under the broad leaves of humility. 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 21$ 

Some passages in her writings show- 
that God tried her as He does His 
most favored children, by withdrawing 
from her at times spiritual consolations. 
She had some dark and stormy seasons 
of interior trials, but they were followed 
by more fervent love, and more com- 
plete detachment and submission. 

The Sisters who were her com- 
panions at C , remember her as a 

living example to them all ; they say 
that, during her short stay among 
them, Soeur Eugenie showed them 
" how to live, to suffer, and to die ! " 
She was remarkable for her love of 
holy obedience, "the mother and 
source of all virtues,'' as S. Augustine 
calls it. 

In her constant conformity to the 



2l6 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

Divine Will, and entire abnegation of 
her own judgment — in her diligent 
and exact performance of the rules, 
and simple, ready submission to the 
orders of her superiors — she was 
practising that perfect obedience, 
which S. Thomas of Aquin, S. Bernard, 
and all the Fathers of the Church agree 
in placing first and foremost among 
the virtues that are most essential in 
the religious life. It is related of her 
that once, on a great Festival, the 
organist being absent, the Superior 
sent for Soeur Eugenie and re- 
quested her to take her place. She 
felt really incapable of doing this ; she 
knew that she was unable even to 
attempt to improviser during a whole 
Mass. Yet, as the Superior desired 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 21/ 

her to make the trial, in her implicit 
obedience she seated herself at the in- 
strument, trembling and frightened, 
not knowing how she was to get 
through it. The Mass began, and, 
strange to say, after the first chords, 
she forgot her fright and the difficulty 
of her task, which, to her own intense 
astonishment, she accomplished to the 
entire satisfaction of all who were 
present. Great, also, was her love of 
interior mortification ; she sought to 
overcome self, and deny her own will, 
even in indifferent things. The Sisters 
say, that they often saw her tear up 
the charming letters she received from 
her family, to deprive herself of the 
gratification of reading them a second 

time. She acquired the habit of living 
19 



2l8 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

entirely in the presence of God, and 
the 'Sisters still love to recall her to 
their minds, as she knelt in their chapel 
motionless and wholly absorbed, before 
the Blessed Sacrament. They used to 
wonder how she could remain so long 
in the same position, especially when 
she was often suffering-. One dav, a 
Sister, wishing to test her humility, 
said to her: ''Sceur Eugenie, I do not 
think vou make vour o^enuflexion be- 
fore our Lord in the chapel like a 
Sister of Charity ; there is something 
too mystical in your way of doing it." 
She answered with that childlike sim- 
plicit}' for which she was so remark- 
able : '' It is that when I appear before 
our Divine Master, and I say to my- 
self, ' He is there, in that Tabernacle/ I 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 219 

feel so crushed and annihilated before 
that Supreme Majesty, that I do not 
know how to show my respect ; that 
is why I am so awkward in His holy 
presence/' 





CHAPTER III. 



HER WORK ENDED. 



Angel : My work is done, 
My task is o'er, 
And lo, I come, 
Taking it home, 
For the crown is won, 

Alleluia, 
For evermore. 

Dream of Gerontius, 

|N the autumn of 1867, on her 

return from following the holy 

exercises of the Annual Retreat, Soeur 

Eugenie, who had been ailing for some 

time past, again became seriously ill. 

In the month of November she got 

rapidly worse, and never again rallied. 

220 




SCEUR EUGENIE. 221 

God only knows what a trial it was to 
her to be reduced to inaction, to be un- 
able any longer to work for Him ; but she 
accepted her sufferings, not only with 
resignation, but with joy, and looked 
forward to death with cheerful se- 
renity. " I feel that I am going to my 
Father in Heaven,'' she would say ; 
" Je vais au del '' was often on her 
lips. Her patience never failed ; she 
was always full of submission to the 
will of God. 

Many were the Novenas made by 
the Superior for her recovery, and 
countless prayers were offered up by 
the whole Community, and by her 
little orphans, for the same intention. 
When they saw that no favorable re- 
sult was obtained, one of the Sisters 
19^ 



222 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

said to her, " Soeur Eugenie, I am sure 
this is your fault ; you desire so much 
to leave us, that you do not second our 
prayers/' She answered, "I can de- 
sire and ask nothing but the accom- 
plishment of the will of God.'* 

It was such an inexpressible happi- 
ness to her to contemplate the Sacred 
Host — ySsus-Hostie, that the only de- 
sire she expressed during her illness 
was to be allowed to assist at the 
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. 
Three days before her death, the Supe- 
rior permitted her to have this priv- 
ilege, by opening the door of the In- 
firmary into the Tribune of the chapel, 
and no words can describe her joy. 

Her dear little orphans, who were 
passionately fond' of her, were incon- 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 223 

solable during- her illness. Their 
greatest reward was to be allowed to 
go to see her. To save her from 
fatigue, they used to go two and two, 
and it was a real happiness to them 
when she was able to talk to them and 
give them advice. Sometimes the 
Superior would not allow her to speak, 
and then the children were content if 
they might only look at her, for her 
patient silence taught them many a 
salutary lesson. 

The Feast of the Annunciation in 
the year 1868 was the day on which 
Soeur Eugenie was to pronounce the 
Holy Vows ; but as her illness in- 
creased, the permission was solicited 
and obtained for her to make them 
before the stated time. She wrote : 



224 S(EUR EUGENIE. 

^' Jan. 5. 

" To-morrow, the Feast of the Epi- 
phany, I am to have the ineffable hap- 
piness of uniting myself entirely to my 
Adorable Saviour. Oh ! sing with me 
a Hymn of thanksgiving to the God 
of mercy, who stoops to raise me out 
of my extreme poverty, and crowns 
me with happiness and glory. For 
many years my soul has longed for 
that day, when I shall be detached 
from every earthly thing, to belong 
without reserve to my God; and 1 
strive to lose the sense of my mean- 
ness and my unworthiness, in that of 
the splendor and plenitude of the per- 
fections of my Divine Saviour.'' 

She was in her bed on the solemn 
occasion, being too ill to leave it. The 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 225 

room was beautifully ornamented with 
flowers and lights. During the cere- 
mony she wore a wreath of white roses 
and lilies on her head, and the Sisters 
say that she lay as if in a trance, look- 
ing like an Angel, and seeming to be 
already in Heaven. 

On the 9th of January she wrote : 
'' I was not tired on that great day. 
The sweet peace which filled my soul 
calmed the sufferings of this poor 
body, and I bless those dear sufferings, 
which have procured for me the rich 
treasure of union with my Heavenly 
Bridegroom. Every day since, I real- 
ize more and more my great happi- 
ness, my inestimable privilege ! '' 

Though confined to bed, and suffer- 
ing much from weakness and exhaus- 



226 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

tion, she contrived frequently to write 
a few lines to her family, who were in 
great anxiety about her. The feeble- 
ness of her handwriting shows what 
an effort it was to her, but each word 
that she penned was precious to her 
grieving relations. These letters are 
short, and contain little more than de- 
tails as to her state of health, which 
they asked her to give them ; but there 
is generally some beautiful thought, 
and an often repeated request for 
their prayers, that poor frail nature 
might not give way under the weak- 
ness and languor which accompany 
illness. " Pray for me, my beloved 
ones," she wrote, ''that my heart 
may lift itself up more and more, 
a:nd that I may better feel the great 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 22/ 

value of suffering — my sufferings are 
hardly worthy of the name. They are 
measured to my feeble strength, and 
not to my sins. But I desire to keep 
my heart still, in cheerful acquiescence 
with the Holy Will, in spite of the 
languor inseparable from sickness. 
" Ask that I may say always — 

SURSUM CORDA.'' 

Early in February, Father C — , the 
holy Priest whose sermon, as has been 
already mentioned, had hastened her 
final decision to leave the world, was 
passing through C — , and stopped to 
see Soeur Eugenie. He thus speaks 
of his visit : " It was my happiness to 
see her at C — . She was on her sick- 
bed, and surrounded by the Sisters. 



228 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

I felt that she would not be long in 
this world, but I felt also that her life 
in Heaven would only be a continua- 
tion of her life here, for that life was 
simply the will of God. She did not 
wish to die, nor did she wish to live ; 
she did not wish for work, nor yet for 
rest. These were almost her words 
to me ; she had but one wish, to do 
the will of God." 

During her illness, her mother and 
other members of her family had 
visited her from time to time. They 
had lately been cheered by hearing of 
a slight improvement, when suddenly 
the accounts became so alarming, of 
rapidly increasing illness and failing 
strength, that her parents and sisters 
decided to start at once for C , 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 229 

even then dreading lest they might 
arrive too late. 

When they got to the end of their 
mournful and anxious journey, she 
had already received the last Sacra- 
ments ; yet, when they entered the 
room of their loved one, with hearts 
heavy with grief, they found her look- 
ing so calm and beautiful that they 
could scarcely believe death to be so 
near. There were hardly any traces of 
illness on her peaceful, happy face; her 
cheeks were still soft and round ; she 
looked like a pure white lily, as she lay 
there with her snowy hands meekly 
crossed upon her breast ; the only sign 
of death about her was the heavenly 
expression of her eyes, which already 
shone with a radiance not of earth. 



230 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

It was an affecting meeting — one 
of intense emotion to them all. After 
the first affectionate greetings were 
over, she looked from one to another 
with an expression of the deepest love, 
and often repeated, " How happy I am ! 
How good God is to me! Oh, how 
happy I am to see you all!'' In her 
deep humility, she seemed unable to 
understand that they could be in grief 
on her account, and seeing the anguish 
that was depicted on their counte- 
nances, she anxiously questioned them 
as to what was weighing on their 
hearts. When they told her that their 
only present grief was seeing her so 
ill, she said, '' I believe it, as you say 
so ; but it is the will of God, and He 
will give us all strength.'' 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 23 1 

She spoke with difficulty, as she 
had violent and frequent attacks of 
suffocation. When her sisters asked 
her about her sufferings, which were 
intense, she answered, '' Oh, they are 
nothing. Let us speak of something 
more interesting — tell me about your- 
selves I receive you so badly 

— but I cannot speak — and I have 
so many things to say to you. — It 
is the will of God ! " 

They then told her about her absent 
relations and friends, and she inquired 

after several persons at X . She 

said, " I forget nothing — and nobody. 
I thank every one who remembers me 
and prays for me." 

Her family left her at nine in the 
evening. She passed an agitated, suf- 



232 SOEUR EUGENIE. 

fering night, with constant and painful 
suffocations. Next day (Friday) they 
were with her at an early hour. She 
greeted them joyfully, and with a loving 
smile. Her father bent over her and 
. kissed her hands. She looked pained, 
and taking them away, said, '' O papa, 
not that ! I am not worthy of that ! '' 

She heard with delight that one of 
her brothers would probably arrive on 
that day. Her eldest brother was with 
his regiment in Algeria ; the youngest 
had visited her a few months before, 
and her second brother was the only 
one who could obtain leave of absence 
to see her once more in this world. 
They had not met for five years, and 
she exclaimed with joy, " How happy 
I shall be to see him ! " 



SCEUR EUGJ^NIE. 233 

Her exquisite grace and courtesy 

never left her; and every time that her 

mother or sisters gave her anything 

to drink, she first made the sign of 

the Cross with deep respect, and then 

said, smihng, ''Merci infinimenty At 

one o'clock she was seized with a 

fearful suffocation, and for a time her 

sufferings were intense. Her friends 

were sobbing round her bed, praying 

God to take her and shorten her 

agony. She, on the contrary, cried 

out, '' Oh, I thank Thee, I thank Thee, 

my Divine Master ! How happy I am 

to suffer for Thee ! It is too great 

happiness Oh, my Jesus, still 

more, still more, if it please thee, and 

for so long as Thou wiliest ! '' 

She covered the crucifix, which w^as 
20^ 



234 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

held to her lips, with ardent kisses ; 
it seemed as if her love and generosity 
increased in proportion as her cross 
became heavier. Her Confessor bent 
over her, and spoke of the reward of 
heaven. She answered, quickly, "I 
do not look for reward. I only wish 
to do the will of God — that is my 
only desire.'' 

Even through this period of severe 
suffering, her eyes still looked tenderly 
on her loving relations, and again and 
again her poor, discolored, trembling 
lips smiled on them. Once she turned 
to her mother, and, with an inde- 
scribable expression, said, in English, 
" Darhng Mamma ! '' 

At three o'clock she became easier, 
and her sufferings diminished. She 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 235 

asked to be quiet, and begged them 
all to sit down, saying, '"^du calme, du 
calme ! '' Her sister Marie asked if 
they could do anything for her. She 
answered, "Oh, no ; I have every pos- 
sible comfort, both for my soul and 
my body. I am quite happy. Dieti 
me comblef 

Late in the day, her brother arrived, 
after a thirty-three hours' journey by 
rail. She was then comparatively calm 
and able to speak. When he went 
into her room, her face lit up with a 
radiant smile. She threw her arms 
around his neck, and embraced him 
tenderly. It w^as a touching and beau- 
tiful sight, that young soldier with 
his manly face streaming with tears, 
clasped in the embrace of his dying 



236 S(EUR EUGENIE, 

Sister — the pure and saintly Sister of 
Charity ! 

She then made him sit down oppo- 
site to her bed, and, after looking at 
him with delight, asked him to tell her 
all about himself — his military life — 
his friends, &c. She listened with the 
deepest interest, putting in, now and 
then, an edifying word. She spoke 
warmly of her youngest brother — 
of his character and his future career. 
Every word she said was precious to 
them all. 

At six o'clock, the bell rang for the 
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, 
which is given every Friday during 
Lent. All the family went into the 
Tribune, which opened into the infir- 
mary, and overlooks the beautiful little 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 23/ 

chapel. They all knelt down side by 
side, and the orphans — her orphans 
— whom she had loved so well, sang 
the Benediction hymns with their clear 
young voices, and seemed to be pre- 
paring the glorious entry of that pure 
spirit into the place which was ready 
for her in her Father's House. 
' When they returned to her bed- 
side, the room was arranged for the 
night — her last night on earth! All 
was peaceful and very still. The 
window - curtains were closed, and a 
lamp on the chimney-piece threw fitful 
gleams on a large picture, which hung 
on the wall opposite her bed, of our 
Blessed Lord, crowned with thorns 
and nailed to the Cross. Her parents 
and brother and sisters seated them- 



238 ^ SGEUR EUGENIE. 

selves round her. Soeur Eugdnie had 
the lamp arranged so as to light up all 
their faces, and looking at them, she 
clasped her hands and said, '* Oh, 
how delightful it is to see you all ! 
How happy I am ! God heaps his 
favors on me ! What strength he 
gives me! " She was then very calm 
and quiet, though her sufferings were 
acute and incessant. 

At about nine o'clock she beckoned 
to her mother, and embracing her af- 
fectionately, begged her to forgive her 
if she had ever given her any pain. 
Her poor mother answered through 
her sobs, that never, never had she 
done so, except by her illness. *' Oh, 
tkat,'' she said, '' is the will of God.'' 
She kissed them all, and whispered 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 239 

%ords of love and consolation to each. 
Her sister Marie came the last; she 
was then too much exhausted to 
speak, but holding her hand in hers, 
she said in a solemn tone, " Mon ange, 
je te pa7derai de7nam — je te parlerai 
demainy Alas ! there was to be no 
morrow for her in this world. 

Soeur Angele, whose privilege it was 
to sit up with her, relates : — ^ '' As the 
night went on, she became more agi- 
tated, and her sufferings more intense. 
In spite of all her pain, she occupied 
herself about me, begging me to go 
nearer the fire, and was grateful for 
the smallest attention. Once I said to 
her, 'You are on the cross with our 
Lord/ ' Oh, it is very sweet,' she 
answered. I suggested to her a little 



240 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

prayer of abandonment to the will of* 
God, and she said, ' How beautiful it is ! 
repeat that again — it does me good.' 

*' Towards midnight she was seized 
with a violent pain in her side, and 
shivering ; when I had given her some 
relief she expressed her gratitude, 
saying, 'I will repay you for this kind- 
ness, but not here!' I said, 'How 
grieved I am, Soeur Eugenie, to see 
you in such pain. Tell our Lord that 
you love Him as much as you suffer.' 
She answered, with an animation and 
a fervor which I shall never forget, 
* Oh, no. I love Him far more — 
far more ! ' " 

About four in the morning, she 
cried out, with a beaming countenance, 
'' Oh, how beautiful ! how beautiful ! " 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 24I 

Evidently she had a glimpse of Para- 
dise. A little later, her Confessor 
asked her if she would like to receive 
the Holy Communion, which she had 
not failed to do a single day during 
her illness. She answered, '' In a little 
while ; I am not quite calm enough." 
She was, just then, very much op- 
pressed. A minute after, her head 
fell suddenly back on the pillow ; she 
breathed a gentle sigh — and all was 
over ! Her pure spirit had fled to its 
Heavenly Home ! 

In the morning, when her family re- 
entered her room, the body of their 
blessed one — their "little saint'' — 
was lying on the bed in all the exquis- 
ite beauty and calm of her last sleep. 
She wore the holy Habit of the Order 



242 SCEUR EUGENIE, 

she had loved so truly. On her- 
snowy coimette rested the wreath of 
roses and lilies she had received when 
she pronounced her vows. 

Even now there was no sign of 
death on the peaceful, beautiful face, 
save only the pallid hue which made it 
look as if it were chiselled in white 
marble. It was impossible to look at 
her and not to feel she was at rest in 
the fulness of joy in Paradise ! 

They were bowed down with deepest 
grief; they were overwhelmed by the 
greatness of their loss ; and yet there 
was so much of consolation — nay 
even of triumph — in a death like hers, 
that while human sorrow and regret 
filled their hearts, they were still able 
to rejoice for her sake. They knew 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 243 

that she was in the immediate presence 
of the Adorable Saviour, the Divine 
Master she had loved so ardently, and 
served so faithfully, and they would 
not have called her back even if they 
could. They had once given her to 
God to serve Him, and now that He 
had taken her home to dwell with Him. 
in glory, they were enabled to thank 
Him with resignation for the precious 
consolations of her last days, and in 
calm submission again to say, ''Fiat 
voluntas Tuaf' 

The golden rays of the sun lit up 
the bed as if in triumph ; by its head 
a little altar had been erected, on 
which stood a crucifix surrounded by 
the flowers she had loved best. Priests 
and Sisters were kneeling round her, 



244 SCEUR EUG&NIE, 

praying and weeping. Her orphans 
and the school-children kept coming 
in and out, to have a last look of her 
who had been to them as a guardian 
angel. They all embraced her, and 
prayed by her, and one little orphan 
of five years old stretched out its 
arms and begged to be lifted up so 
as to look at her and kiss her. 

As soon as it was known that she 
was dead, crowds of poor came to the 
gates of the MisSricorde clamoring for 
admittance, " aupres de la bonne Soeur^ 

The Sister Superior was obliged at 
last to order the doors to be thrown 
open, and in an instant the court — the 
large staircase — the room itself, were 
filled with poor people who came 
thronging in, and continued to do so 



SCEUR EUGJ^NIE. 245 

Without interruption during the whole 
day. The old, the sick, the lame, the 
blind — some carried by their com- 
panions — mothers with their little 
children, workmen of the town and 
neighborhood — all came streaming in 
and, throwing themselves on their 
knees, cried out in tones of heart- 
rending grief, " Ohy la bonne Sceur, nous 
ne la reverrons jamais! Elle etait si 
bonne, si douce, si avenante^ si bonne 
pour le pauvre monde ! '' 

It was an affecting sight! No 
funeral sermon that was ever preached 
was half so eloquent as this sponta- 
neous living testimony to the holiness 
and charity of the departed one. 

Her family remained with her in 
prayer till evening time, when they gave 



246 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

their beloved child and sister the last 
kiss — the last look in this world ! 

Deep was the grief in the whole 
Community for the bonne Soeur Euge^ 
nie, who had won the affection of every 
member of the " family '' of the Mise7d' 
corde ; and deepest of all was that of 
the good, kind Soeur Superieure, of 
whom Soeur Eugenie had often said, 
that no words could describe her 
tender care. She mourned her loss 
in all ways, for the clear judgment and 
intelligence, combined with the perfect 
charity and tact of this sweet Sister, 
had made her a valuable assistant in 
the difficult work of administration, 
and she looked on her as a friend and 
counsellor, as well as a loving and 
devoted daughter in Christ. Her 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 247 

consolation was that she would re- 
member them in heaven, where they 
would soon meet again, never more 
to be separated. 

The rain was falling heavily on the 
following day, the ist of March, when 
the funeral took place ; but this did 
not prevent a large concourse of poor, 
and many persons of the town, from 
following the body to the grave. All 
the clergy too were there, and the 
Sisters of the different Communities 
at C • ; the orphans and the school- 
children. Her father and brother 
walked in front, and the pouring rain 
seemed well in unison with their grief 
and tears. 

The snow-white pall was bestrewed 
with roses, and young girls, dressed in 



248 S(EUR EUGENIE, 

white, bore the precious burden. And 
thus the long and mournful procession 
reached the cemetery, which com- 
mands a fine view of the ancient, 
picturesque cite she used to admire 
so much. 

When the last Requiem ceternam 
dona ei Domine had been sung, and 
the antiphon, Ego sum Resurrectio, had 
been repeated, Sceur Eugenie was 
laid between two Sisters who had died 
at the Misericorde while she was there, 
" Sceur Marie" and the "Soeur Emilie'' 
she had loved so dearly. And on that 
spot there is now a plain white marble 
cross, on which is engraved her name, 
and these words, which she herself 
had chosen 



SCEUR EUGENIE. 249 

" My soul hath hoped in the Lord, 
For with the Lord there is mercy, 
And with Him is plenteous 
Redemption." 
De Profundis, Ps. cxxix. 

After the crowd had dispersed, there 
yet remained a Kttle group, sobbing 
and praying round the grave that had 
just been closed. The poor Httle 
orphans could not be torn away from 
the venerated remains of her who had 
been so good to them, and their simple, 
heartfelt grief was touching to behold. 

So warmly did these poor children 
cherish her memory, that often they 
have been heard to say that they were 
kept from doing this or that amiss, by 
the thought that Soeur Eugenie saw 
them. And so fondly did they cling 
even to her name, that they begged 



2SO SCEUR EUGENIE, 

the Sister who succeeded her to give 
up the one she bore in the Cornmunity, 
and call herself Eugenie, to remind 
them of her they had lost. 

Many were the Masses and prayers 
offered for the repose of this departed 
soul, and of all the Requiem Masses 
none was more solemn or touching 
than that which was celebrated in the 
village church where Soeur Eugenie 
had made her First Communion. The 
venerable Cure who had instructed 
her in the Catholic Faith, and who was 
then Cure- Doyen of a neighboring 
district, gave the final absolution ; he, 
too, has since gone to his rest. The 
little church was entirely hung with 
black, and was densely crowded with 
all the inhabitants of the village, old 



SCEUR EUGENIE, 2$ I 

and young, and many of the friends 
of the family. All eyes were filled 
with tears, and all hearts with the 
same feelings of tender regret and 
loving sympathy. 

It was not only on the Communities 
where she had lived, or on her own 
family, that Soeur Eugenie left a never 
to be forgotten impress, but on all who 
knew her and had come in contact 
with her. A Priest who was in the 
habit of seeing her said, '* I often went 
to see her — not for herself — she did 
not want my help — but for myself, 
and I never left her presence without 
being edified and greatly strength- 
ened." 

Another said, "It was more than 



252 SCEUR EUGENIE. 

faith that she possessed — it was la 
claire vue. She saw what we believed 
And now her example speaks to us 
all, exciting us to greater love of God, 
and urging us to imitate her charity, 
ready self-sacrifice and humility; so 
that when our earthly pilgrimage shall 
be ended, we may hope to join her in 
the Heavenly Country around the 
Throne of God ! 




APPENDIX. 




22 



253 




SELECTIONS FROM MEDITATIONS, &c. 

By Sceur Eugenie. 
Copied from the Original Manuscript, 



MEDITATIONS. 



' Bienheureux ceux qui ont le . coeur pur, car ils 
verrorit Dieu." — S. Matt. v. 8. 




N meditant cette parole de mon 
Sauveur Bienaime, J'ai cru voir que 
cette promesse faite au coeur pur et qui au 
premier abord semblerait ne regarder que 
la Patrie, ou la vue de Dieu fait I'inexpri- 
mable bonheur des elus, s'accomplit en un 

certain sens des cette vie En effet, 

255 



256 APPENDIX. 

meme ici-bas, il est donne au coeur pur de 
voir Dieti en un certain sens dans la medi- 
tation, et dans toute Thumilite de mon 
ignorance, je crois qu'on peut aussi trouver 
en ces adorables paroles cette signification. 
En meditant perfections de notre Dieu, 
nous soufifrons d'un voile epais qui obscur- 
cit notre vue, d'une pesanteur qui entrave 
notre elan, et qui sont causes par I'affec- 
tion a nous-memes et a toutes les choses 
de la terre. 

Or plus le coeur est pur de toute cette 
poussiere, de tout ce limon, .plus Timage 
du Sauveur dans toute son ineffable beaute 
s'y reflete et s'y grave. Sans parler du 
peche (qui est une intolerable angoisse 
pour le coeur qui aime — et qui empeche 
completement cette vue) tout cet amas de 
lachetes, de tiedeur, de legerete, d'amour- 
propre, d'inquietudes, de joies et de tris- 
tesses terrestres et d'orgueil surtout, sous 



APPENDIX. ' 257 

ses mille formes, sont autant de voiles 
qui obscurcissent le regard interieur qui 
cherche son Dieu. 

Bienheureux done Oh ! mille fois bien- 
heureux, mon Dieu, est le coeur que Votre 
grace a purifie, parcequ'il Vous verra des 
ce monde. Parceque Vous serez son 
Tresor, son Modele, son Amour et sa Joie. 
Parceque comparees a Vous, toutes les 
choses de la terre ne lui sembleront que 
vanite et misere. Parceque Vous serez 
dans ce coeur pour epurer toutes ses joies 
et le consoler dans toutes ses peines. Car 
'^ c'est par les epreuves qu'il entrera dans 
le rafraichissement." . Donnez - moi — je 
Vous le demande de toute la ferveur de 
mon amour — donnez - moi ce coeur pur 
afin queje sois bienheureuse parceque je Vous 
verrai. 

Oh ! mon Sauveur adore, purifiez-le par 
le moyen qu'il Vous plaira de tout ce qui 

22* R 



258 APPENDIX. 

n'est pas Vous, et surtout de tout ce qui 
est moi, moi et mon amour-propre ; faites- 
en un sanctuaire pur ou Vous habiterez 
seul, Oh ! mon Dieu — faites-le ce que 
Vous voulez qu'il soit, rendez-le pur car 
Vous seul pouvez tout, et moi je ne puis 
rien qu'en Vous et par Vous. Accordez 
nous a tous cette grace immense, afin que, 
Vous ayant toujours regarde autant que 
Vous nous permettez de Vous voir pen- 
dant cette courte et imparfaite vie; nous 
jouissions de Tincomprehensible bonheur 
promis au coeur pur, de Vous contempler 
dans la Patrie pendant TEternite. Amen. 

*' Je vous ai dit ces choses afin que vous ayez la 
paix en moi. Vous aurez bien a souffrir dans le 
monde." — S. Jean xvi. 33. 

La paix de Dieu est I'heritage de ses en- 
fants que le Sauveur nous a laisse en mou- 
rant. C'est le Tresor des Tresors, le don qui 



APPENDIX, 259 

surpasse tous les dons. Oh ! mon ame, 
meditons profondement sur cette parole, sur 
cette promesse adorable. " Je vous donne 
la paix, Je vous laisse la paix ; *' laissons-la 
toutes les choses de la terre, car voila que 
notre Sauveur nous invite a recevoir de lui 
un don qui les surpasse tous. 

C'etait la veille de la douloureuse mort 
et passion du Seigneur Jesus. II venait 
d'instituer le merveilleux triomphe et le 
chef-d'oeuvre de son amour — la Ste. Eu- 
charistie, et avant de mourir, en cette nuit 
supreme qui precede son immolation, II fit 
a ses disciples un discours d'adieu, dont les 
merveilleuses paroles nous ont ete rappor- 
tees par le disciple que Jesus aimait. Oh ! 
mon ame, quittons les bruits trompeurs et 
les vaines occupations du monde et trans- 
portons-nous par une meditation profonde 
dans ce lieu beni ou le divin Sauveur en- 
toure de ceux qu'Il a choisis, leur dit ces 



26o APPENDIX, 

dernieres paroles dont Tattendrissante sub- 
limite fait depuis 1800 ans la force et la con- 
solation des Chretiens. Ne craignez pas, 
pauvre ame tremblante a la vue de votre 
indignite, approchez-vous de ce maitre bien- 
aime. II vous a appelee en vous disant. 
*^ Venez a moi. Si quelqu'un a soif qu'il 
vieune a moi et qu'il boive, car je ne mettrai 
pas dehors celui qui vient a moi/' Merci, 
Dieu de mon amour, merci de me permettre 
de me desalterer a la source de la vie et de 
recueillir goutte a goutte dans mon coeur 
les paroles rafraichissantes dont il a soif. 
Oh! que ces paroles sont divines — pleines 
de douceur, de condescendance et d'amour. 
II va les quitter ses pauvres " amis " dont 
I'esprit est prompt, il est vrai, mais dont la 

chair est faible, — II va les quitter 

Demain on le trainera a la mort la plus 
sanglante. Ces mains divines qui s'eten- 
dent pour les benir, seront percees de clous. 



APPENDIX, 261 

Ces pieds qui se sont fatigues a chercher 
les brebis egares seront dechires et san- 
glants ; cette bouche divine a laquelle ils 
sont suspendus, recueillant chaque parole 
qui en decoule, sera dessechee et brulante 
dans les angoisses de la mort et n'aura 
pour la rafraichir que du fiel et du vinaigre ! 
Du fiel et du vinaigre, pour cette bouche 
adorable dont toutes les paroles sont dou- 
ceur et amour! Grand Dieu ! faut-il vrai- 
ment qu'il en soit ainsi ? Oui, tout cela 
aura lieu demain, II le sait, le divin Re- 
dempteur, et comme *' II avait aime les siens 
qui etaient dans le monde, II les aima jus- 
qu'a la fin," et dans cette derniere nuit II 
leur parla longuement et tendrement, avec 
une autorite divine et un amour misericor- 
dieux qu'aucun Pere n'a jamais eu pour ses 
enfants. II leur dit de ne point se troubler, 
de ne pas craindre, de croire en lui d'une 
foi inebranlable. II leur recommenda de 



262 APPENDIX, 

Taimer, de demeurer dans son amour, de 
s'aimer les uns les autres comme II les a 
aimes, de le prier avec confiance et II pro- 
met de les exaucer. II les appelle ses en- 
fants, ses amis, II sympathise avec chaque 
douleur de leurs coeurs brises a la pensee 
de la terrible separation qui les attende. " Je 
ne vous laisserai pas orphelins, je vous en- 
verrai le Consolateur." Puis II continue 
** Parceque je vous ai parl^ de la sorte, vous 
avez le coeur rempli de tristesse. Je vous dis 
pourtant la verite, il est de votre interet 
que je m'en aille." Et II revient sans cesse 
au divin precepte de la charite et de 
I'amour. Oh ! discours sublime, vous suf- 
firiez seul si vous etiez medite, a fondre et 
a attendrir pour toujours les coeurs de tous 
les hommes ! 

Enfin le divin Sauveur annonce a ses dis- 
ciples les souffrances qu'ils auront a endurer 
pour etre marques du sceau divin de la croix, 



APPENDIX, 263 

par lequel seul les elus du Pere de famille 
peuvent entrer dans les demeures eternelles. 
II leur dit qu'ils seroat meprises, persecutes, 
chasses des synagogues, mis a mort, qu'ils 
auront beaucoup a souffrir en ce monde, et 
puis par une conclusion sublime que la na- 
ture ne saurait comprendre mais dont la 
grace fait sentir la divine harmonic, II s'ecrie, 
" Je vous donne ma paix, Je vous laisse ma 
paix ! " Quelle est-elle done, oh ! mon 
Dieu, cette paix que Vous promettez? 
Voila des hommes qui vont etre persecutes — 
tortures — et au milieu de toutes ces tor- 
tures ils possedent — quoi } —-la Paix! Oh ! 
Vous avez raison de dire que Vous ne la 
donnez pas comme le monde la donne, 
Sauveur Adore ! Cette paix qu'il n'ose pas 
promettre pour prix de toutes ses joies, de 
toutes ses satisfactions, meme les plus 
pures, Vous la donnez, mon Maitre Bien- 
Aime, au milieu de toutes les angoisses, de 



264 APPENDIX, 

toutes les tempetes de douleurs qui assail- 
lent les coeurs de Vos enfants. Car ce n'est 
pas a Vos Apotres seul que Vous Tavez 
promise, mais a tous ceux qui dans la suite 
des siecles, se renonceront eux-memes, 
prendront leurs croix et Vous suivront. 

Paix de mon Sauveur, qu'etes-vous done ? 
Vous etes Tasile ou se reposent les coeurs 
fatigues, brises, meprises, des enfants de 
Dieu — Vous etes la banniere quails elevent 
bien haut, au milieu du combat, et que la 
poussiere de la terre ne peut atteindre ni 
fletrir. Vous etes la region bien audessus 
de la terre dont les angoisses de Jesus 
Christ nous ont ouvert Fentree. Mais 
qu'etes vous encore ? Comment vous con- 
querir? Comment vous posseder? Car 
vous n'etes pas Tindifference — loin de nous 
un tel blaspheme. Ce sont les coeurs qui 
ressentent avec le plus de vivacite leurs 
douleurs et celles des autres, qui, lorsqu'ils 



APPENDIX. 265 

suivent la voix de Dieu, vous comprennent 
et vous possedent le mieux. 

Seigneur Jesus, je crois voir ce qu'est 
cette paix divine, et la voie par laquelle on 
y arrive. Cette paix, c'est Tunion avec Vous 
par la grace, et la conformite a Votre vo- 
lonte sainte jusqu'a ce qu'elle devienne notre 
volonte. La voie qui y conduit est la route 
royale du renoncement, du sacrifice, et de 
la croix, que " nous suivons a Todeur de 
vos parfums." Cette paix n'est pas I'indif- 
ference pour les souffrances, c'est la paix 
qui succede a la guerre, quand la grace a 
vaincu la nature, et qu'elle les fait accepter 
avec amour, en union avec les souffrances 
du divin Sauveur, Tant qu'il reste quelque 
chose de Tamour propre et de la recherche 
de soi, cette paix ne peut etre complete, 
rheritage precieux de notre Prince Ador^ 
ne peut etre possede dans son entier. Oh ! 
Bienheureux sont ceux qui possedent cette 
23 



266 APPENDIX, 

paix, qui acceptent avec une egale sou- 
mission et un egal amour, la joie et la tris- 
tesse, la douleur et la consolation, la vie et 
la mort comme venant de Vous — du sein 
de cette paix qui n'est autre chose que 
I'union avec Vous, et le detachement d'eux- 
memes — leur coeur fondu dans Votre 
charite, et remanie par Votre grace se re- 
pandra en amour et en devouement sur 
leurs freres qu'ils aiment comme Vous les 
avez aimes, avec une-sympathie ardente. 

Sauveur Adore, donnez-nous cette paix, 
ce bien precieux que Vous avez laisse a vos 
enfants en mourant. Nous savons que 
nous aurons bien *' a souffrir en ce monde," 
et nous sommes heureux de le savoir, car 
ce sont ceux qui ont passe par de grandes 
tribulations qui se tiennent devant vous 
dans Votre Royaume. Nous ne deman- 
dons pas a en etre exemptes, mais nous 
vous supplions, Oh ! tres misericordieux 



APPENDIX. 267 

Jesus, de nous donner ce don precieux qui 
nous aidera a Vous mieux servir, a Vous 
aimer plus ardemment. Oh ! venez parmi 
nous et dites a I'intime du coeur de chacun : 
"Ayez confiance, J'ai vaincu le monde, et 
pour prix de toutes les souffrances que 
vous etes heureux d'endurer pour moi, Je 
vous donne ma paix, Je vous laisse ma 
Paix." Amen. 

''Jesus ay ant apercu sa Mbre et le Disciple qu'Il 
aimait, dit a la Mere : Femme, voila votre fils. Puis 
II dit au disciple, Voila votre Mere." — S. Jean xix. 

II est peu de passages du St. Evangile, 
peu de traits de la vie de notre cher Sau- 
veur, o\x Tamour de son dlvin Coeur ait 
depose plus de consolations qu'en celui-ci. 
Bien souvent I'ame brisee et dechiree y a 
trouve la paix, ou du moins I'espoir. Mon 
ame, gravissons le Mont du Calvaire, la 
Montagne des grandes angoisses, des grands 



268 APPENDIX. 

bienfaits, de Teternelle esperanee, et oubli- 
ant toutes les choses de la terre, demeurons 
a contempler ce trait de la Passion de notre 

Prince Adore Je pourrais considerer, 

ma Mere Bien-aimee, comment par ces 
paroles " Voila votre Mere," le Seigneur 
Jesus nous a fait vos enfants. Cette pensee 
remplit mon coeur d'une suave consolation, 
Mere tres cherie. Mais aujourd'hui je con- 
sidere un autre trait de cette scene dechi- 
rante — le Sauveur Jesus, du haut de sa 
Croix, du milieu de Tocean sans rives de 
son incommensurable angoisse apergoit Sa 
Mere! Sa Mere Bien-aimee — brisee de 
douleur a ses pieds. 

II est une souffrance que quelques ames 
connaissent trop bien, une souffrance cruelle 
parmi toutes les souffrances, la plus difficile 
de toutes a supporter sans le plus haut 
degre de foi — c'est la vue de la douleur de 
coeur de ceux que nous aimons. Notre 



APPENDIX, 269 

Sauveur devait la connaitre — II Ta con- 
nue — pas un fibre de nos coeurs ne peut 
etre agite, sans trouver un echo dans le 
sien. Vous I'avez connue, Divin Sauveur, 
en cette heure ou vous avez vu le Disciple 
que vous aimiez et votre Mere Immaculee 
au pied de votre Croix. Vous I'avez res- 
sentie dans votre Coeur Sacre qui est 
tout amour; et lorsque nos pauvres coeurs 
sont ployes par le poids de cette epreuve, 
ils peuvent se refugier, comme toujours, 
dans le Votre, car vous savez qu'ils souf- 
frent, et ce qu'ils souffrent. Vous savez 
qu'il y a des moments, ou sans votre grace, 
la vue du chagrin ou de la souffrance d'un 
etre bien-aime serait insupportable. Oh ! 
comme on donnerait tout pour les soulager, 
tout pour prendre leur fardeau, et si par 
ordre de votre Volonte a jamais adorable, 
nous sommes la cause involontaire de ce 

chagrin : Seigneur, ayez pitie de nous ! 

23* 



270 APPENDIX. 

Hommes de peu de foi que nous sommes ! 
Oh ! mon ame, nous voudrions prendre 
leur fardeau, mais ne croyons-nous pas 
qu'il leur vaudra un poids eternel de gloire ? 
Ne croyons-nous pas que le Seigneur Jesus, 
qui de ses yeux mourants a apergu sa Mere 
Bien-aimee au pied de sa Croix, et pensant 
a la vie desolee qu'elle allait mener sans 
Lui, Fa recommandee au disciple qu'Il ai- 
mait le plus, ne croyons-nous pas que ce 
Sauveur misericordieux aura soin de ceux 
que nous aimons ? 

II aimait sa Mere, la douce Vierge Marie, 
choisie entre toutes les femmes, de toute la 
puissance de son Coeur Divin ; bien autre- 
ment que nos coeurs imparfaits ne sauraient 
jamais aimer. 

Recueillons-nous done dans ce lieu trois 
fois saint, et meditons les divins enseigne- 
ments qui nous sont donnes ici. Conside- 
rons cette pauvre Mere qui contemple son 



APPENDIX, 271 

Fils ardemment aime dans les angoisses de 
sa douloureuse Passion. Considerons cette 
Vierge sainte et heroique, qui s'unit a son 
sacrifice et I'offre avec lui pour le salut des 
hommes. Contemplons ce Divin Fils qui a 
compati a la douleur de la veuve de Nairn 
et des soeurs de Lazare, et qui voit Sa Mere 
abimee d'angoisses au pied de sa Croix. 
Contemplons aussi et surtout ce Dieu de 
sagesse et d'amour, qui lui donne part a son 
sacrifice afin qu'elle ait part a sa gloire. 
Croyons, sans la voir ou la comprendre 
toujours, a la sublime harmonic des des- 
seins de Dieu sur nous tous, que fait que 
nos douleurs, comme nos joies, concourent 
toutes a nous mener a Lui, notreunj que 
Tout. Ne vous plaignez pas, faible cceur, 
mais unissez-vous, en vous aneantissant 
vous meme, a Jesus, qui a vu souffrir sa 
Mere — a Marie, qui a vu souffrir son Fils 
adorable. Oh ! mon Dieu, que votre cha- 



2/2 APPENDIX. 

rite est grande, que yotre misericorde est 
compatissante, et toujours prete a nous 
donner asile ! Qu'il est doux de mediter 
chaque trait de votre vie parmi nous, de 
repasser longuement chacune de vos paroles 
dans I'intime de nos coeurs, et de desalterer 
nos ames aux eaux vivifiantes et eternelles 
qui en decoulent ! Aujourd'hui comme 
toujours, je termine en disant, Vous Seul, 
Vous Seul^ Mon Dieu I Vous seul en moi — 
Vous seul en ceux que j'aime. Rien n'est 
beau, rien n*est vrai, rien n'est durable, rien 
n'est consolant que Vous ! Nous nous 
abandonnons tous a vous qui etes notre 
modele, notre Sauveur et notre partage 
pour TEternite. Amen. 



PENSEES DfiTACHEES. 




Je voudrais que chaque souffle de ma vie disc ces 
trois paroles. 

FIAT VOLUNTAS TUA ! 
DEO GRATIAS ! 
MISERERE MEI ! 

[E commencement de la perfection, 
c'est Tamour ! le comble de la per- 
fection, c'est I'amour. Mon Dieu, pour 
unique grace, je vous demande votre amour. 
II me semble que nous n'avons qu'une chose 
a faire, c'est d'aimer Dieu. ^ Aimez Dieu,' 
dit St. Augustin, ' et faites tout ce que vous 
voudrez ! ' Quel est Teffet de cet amour? 
Comment saurons-nous si ce feu divin brule 
en nos ames ? Ecoutons notre Sauveur. 
" Si vous m' aimez J gardez mes co^nmande- 
ments!' 

S 273 



274 APPENDIX. 

On dit que les voyageurs sur les mers 
lointaines, sentent quelquefois des brises 
odorantes qui leur arrivent chargees des 
parfums de quelqu'ile embaumee dont ils 
sont eloignes encore. C'est ainsi que dans 
le voyage de cette vie, on sent quelquefois 
dans la meditation comme une legere brise 
qui traverse Tame, apportant une senteur 
de la patrie celeste. Je I'ai eprouve surtout 
dans la meditation sur Thumilite et le re- 
noncement. C'etait comme un sentiment 
de rimmense paix, du supreme bonheur 
que renferment ces vertus pratiquees dans 
toute leur etendue. Mais, mon Sauveur, 
cette perspective ne durait qu'un court in- 
stant, et la brise, une fois passee, je n'ai 
plus senti que I'odeur de la poix et du gou- 
dron du vaisseau — et I'amour-propre et la 
vanite, mes eternels ennemis, ont recom- 



APPENDIX. 275 

mence la lutte pour me faire aller sous les 
flots. Mais ma confiance est dans mon 
Sauveur, et m'efifor^ant de tenir Taiguille de 
ma volonte toujours tournee vers Lui, j'ai 
confiance d'arriver a ce port eternel, qui est 
le but de tous mes efforts. 

Je regarde mon Dieu — et je me regarde. 
Je regarde la perfection — et je me regarde. 
Oh ! mon Dieu, quelle misere, quel de- 
gout! — que ferai-je? Je me jeterai aux 
pieds de mon Sauveur comme le lepreux, 
et le paralytique, et le perclus de I'Evangile. 
Je m'aneantirai dans mon impuissance, et 
je dirai, 

'* Miserere mei Domine ! Miserere mei ! " 

La perfection chretienne consiste toute 
entiere dans la disposition de Tame qui fait 
dire avec une resignation complete, *' que 



276 APPENDIX, 

Votre Volonte soit faite/* Fiat Volontas! 
Mais cette disposition n'est pas purement 
passive. EUe engendre la resignation et 
I action — '' que Votre Volonte soit faite '* en 
moi et par moL II est souvent bien difficile 
a la nature de dire, " que Votre Volonte 
soit faite" — impossible sans Taide de la 
grace. Mais en cherchant a atteindre cette 
parfaite resignation, n'oublions pas V action, 
et commencons, avec, I'aide de la grace, 
par faire la Volonte de Dieu telle que nous 
la connaissons, dans les moindres details, 
comme dans les plus grandes actions, 
quand elle nous demanderait de nous cou- 
per un bras, ou de nous arracher un ceil. 

Seigneur, Votre Volonte, — rien que 
Votre Volonte, — toute Votre Volonte! 
Celui qui seme peu, moissonne peu, mais 
celui qui seme avec abondance, moissonera 
avec abondance. 



APPENDIX, 277 

Oh ! dans le service de ce divin Sauveur, 
ne disons jamais — 'cest assez. 



Pour etre heureux, il faut mettre tout son 

tresor dans le Ciel, et ne compter sur rien 

ici-bas, — car tout passe, et rien n'est 

stable: le bonheur d'aujourd'hui peut se 

changer en angoisse demain. Cette vie est 

un voyage, un court temps d'epreuve; 

qu'importe qu'il y faille souffrir, s'immoler, 

tout sacrifier ! Apres ce court instant, 

VEternite avec Dieu, et reunion eternelle 

en Lui ! Oh ! que tout ce que nous appel- 

lons joie, bonheur, douleur, humiliations, 

ou gloire, nous paraitra alors un vain 

souffle ! L'immensitede notre coeur demande 

a etre comblee ; les plus pures jouissances le 

laissent encore vide. Dieu seul le peut 

remplir. Oh ! que tout ce que je regarde 

hors de Dieu me parait petit ! Qu'est ce 
24 



2/8 APPENDIX. 

qui est grand ? C'est rhumilite, la mortifi- 
cation du coeur, la pauvrete d'esprit, la sim- 
plicite, la resignation, Tamour, et Tespe- 
rance. 

La grace de Dieu est tout — sans elle 
nous ne pouvons rien — avec elle nous pou- 
vons tout. II faut la desirer uniquement — 
la demander instamment — y repondre avec 
ardeur. 

* 

Oh ! mes Bien-aimes, pourquoi pleurons- 
nous dans les afflictions de ce temps si 
court. Qu'importe que la barque soit 
battue des flots, si elle touche enfin au Port? 
Qu'importe que la route soit douloureuse si 
elle aboutit a la Patrie ? 

'^ Post te cmremus in odorem unguentorum 
tuorum!^^ 



APPENDIX. 279 

* 

Fiat ! ! 

II est un petit mot de 4 lettres, lequel 
par la pensee qu'il renferme est un doux et 
immense abri que Dieu nous a dresse au 
milieu des vicissitudes de ce court peleri- 
nage. Ce petit mot est fiat. II exprime 
Facte de Tenfant de Dieu, qui se jette avec 
une confiance entiere, et avec un amour 
confiant dans le sein de son Pere, pour 
laisser passer Forage. 

Prononcez-le, coeur brise, et il versera en 
vous un baume qui vous guerira. Pronon- 
cez-le, coeur in certain sur la voie a suivre, 
et il resoudra vos doutes. Prononcez-le, 
coeur rempli de crainte a la vue de la fragi- 
lite de tout appui humain, et il sera pour 
vous un roc inebranlable. Prononcez-le, 
coeur attriste a la vue des miseres qui cou- 
vrent la terre, et il vous en fera voir le 



280 APPENDIX, 

remede. Prononcez-le, coeur altere d'amour, 
de purete et de justice, et il vous en abreu- 
vera. Prononcez-le lorsque vous voulez 
attirer des benedictions sur ceux que vous 
aimez, ou detourner le mal de leurs coeurs 
cheris. Prononcez-le avec chaque respira- 
tion de votre poitrine, avec chaque batte- 
ment de votre coeur. Dieu le comprendra 
toujours comme vous I'entendrez, tantot 
comme priere, tantot comme acte de resig- 
nation ; comme acte de foi dans le trouble, 
comme acte d'esperance dans la crainte, 
comme acte d'amour toujours. Oui, mon 
Prince Adore, Fiat! je le dis du fond de 
mon ame, et je m'abime en ce mot supreme, 
comme en votre coeur divin, avec tout 
ce que je cheris ici bas. Conduisez-moi 
apres ce petit, ce court passage a la Citd 
eternelle qui est Taccomplissement de ce 
mot divin — Fiat! 



APPENDIX. 281 

Je vols a rhorizon cette vie, pauvre, 
humble, obeissante, et devouee, dont chaque 
minute est consacree a soulager les souf- 
frances de Jesus Christ dans la personne de 
ses pauvres, et malgre Tocean de sacrifices 
qui m'en sdpare encore, je veux remercier 
mon Dieu de m'y appeler. 

Sentez-vous les parfums qui ' s^exhalent 
de la vigne du Divin Maitre ? et qui nous 
attirent vers elle avec le brulant desir d'y 
travailler ? lis portent tous des noms sub- 
limes — mortification — pauvrete — obeis- 
sance — ils enivrent le coeur. 

* 

Oh ! Splendide Tresor de la Pauvrete Chre- 

tienne. 
Oh ! Glorieux honneur de THumilite Chre- 

tienne. 



282 APPENDIX, 

Oh ! Fiere liberte de TObeissance Chre- 

tienne. 
Oh ! Couronne eblouissante, parfum pre- 

cieux de la Chastete Chretienne. 
Vertus de mon Prince, je suis enivree de 

votre beaute ! 
" Nous courrons apres voiis a Vodeur de vos 

parfiims.^' 

4 Avril, 1862. 

Tout manque en moi et autour de moi. 
En moi je Vois un abime hideux de corrup- 
tion ; des aspirations vers le bien et de con- 
tinuelles rechutes dans le mal; une fai- 
blesse et une impuissance entiere pour at- 
teindre un but ardemment desire. 

Dans les creatures, je ne trouve pas d'ap- 
pui. Si je cherche a reposer un instant sur 
elles mon coeur oppresse, j'y trouve parfois 
un instant de consolation et de paix, un 



APPENDIX, 283 

eclair de lumiere et de bonheur, mais le 
vide et Fangoisse qui les suivent n'en sont 
que plus profonds et plus douloureux. Vous 
seul, 6 mon unique amour! Vous seul 
dans les profondeurs de votre Tabernacle, 
etes mon appui, mon modele, et mon tout. 
Suffisez-moi toujours ! .... 

* 

Vous daignez donner a mon ame, Seig- 
neur, un peu de paix, lui faisant oublier un 
instant ses miseres dans la grandeur de vos 
perfections. Oh ! souvenez vous de moi, 
comme d'un instrument bien inutile, bien 
vil, il est vrai, mais tout devoue a votre 
amour. 




284 



APPENDIX. 



[Copy of a Paper sewn to her Scapular, 
found after her death.] 

Ouotidie !Morior: 

cc II Mars 1S65. 
Mon Adorable Sauveur, conformement a 
la resolution que vous m'avez inspiree dans 
men praison de ce matin, je vous promets 
de toute la force de mon cceur qui a soif 
de vous aimer cffcctii-cmcnt, que des ce 
moment je ferai toujours ce que je saurai 
etre k plus parf ait — que je m'attacherai a 
ces deux vertus que vous me dites d'em- 
brasser, 7nortificatwn — et tinion a Dieii. Et 
je travaillerai a me revetir pour aller a vous 
d'une robe d'innocence et de charite, en me 
plongeant chaque heure dans votre Sang 
adorable, et cherchant toutes les occasions 
de mourir pour vous. 



APPENDIX, 285 

Fiat Voluntas! 

renouveli le 10 Jan, 1867. 
Sacrement adore de la Divine Eucha- 
ristie, je vous consacre tout Tamour de mon 
coeur, et je vous y adore perpetuellement 
au milieu de toutes les occupations de ma 
vie. 



[Copy of a Letter on the death of Soeur Eu- 
genie, addressed to her brother-in-law by 
the Bishop of the Diocese.] 

— -, le 3 Mars 1868. 



Monsieur et honorable ami, 

J'ai ete bien surpris et surtout bien dou- 
loureusement affecte de la perte de notre si 
chere Eveline que vous venez de m'an- 
noncer. 

Je partage tres vivement votre affliction 
et celle de tous les membres de la famille. 
Ici pourtant il y a une immense consolation, 



286 APPENDIX. 

puisque Eveline etait un ange, une sainte, 
at qu'elle n'a quitte la terre que pour aller 
regner au ciel. Cetait une predestinee — 
sa vocation a la vie religieuse, sa consecra- 
tion si spontanee, si determinee et si de- 
vouee, sa vie de charite avant et apres sa 
consecration, tout en elle montrait qu'elle 
etait faite pour le Ciel, et qu'elle etait deja 
mure pour y etre recueillie. Je prie sans 
cesse pour elle, mais sans croire qu'elle ait 
besoin de mes prieres : j'offre le St. Sacrifice 
qui est la grande priere de notre Divin 
Sauveur, et qui met le sceau a la predesti- 
nation. Oh ! je me plais a prendre Eveline 
au Saint Autel et a la placer a cote de 
Jesus victime d'amour et de devouement. 
Elle nous rendra bien et au centuple I'inte- 
ret que nous lui portons — elle priera pour 
nous tous au sejour de I'immortalite bien- 
heureuse, et fera tout pour nous y attirer 
avec elle. Amen ! 



APPENDIX, 287 

J'ecrirai a toute la famille, a ces coeurs si 
ulceres, parcequ'ils etaient pleins d'affection 
pour Eveline. En attendant, je vous dis a 
tous ce que Ste. Agnes, cette illustre jeune 
Vierge et Martyre, dit dans une manifesta- 
tion qu'elle fit d'elle-meme a ses parents 
reunis et pleurant aupres de sa tombe. 

" Ne pleurez pas ; car voici que ce que 
j'ai tant convoite, je le vois — ce que j'ai 
espere, je le tiens — je suis unie au Ciel a 
Celui qui, sur la terre, j'ai aime avec tant 
de devouement.'* Oh oui, Eveline vous dit 
cela a tous. II y a, done, bien lieu de nous 
rejouir, ayant une telle amie, une telle pro- 
tectrice au ciel ! 

Consolons-nous done, cher ami, dans de 
telles vues et de telles esperances ! 

(Signe) ^ F Eveque de B . 



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